How can anyone who has to get a meal on the table every day not love an all-in-one dish whether slow cooker, sheet pan, or one pot. I was reading a fiction book and one of the characters was enjoying a dish called Chicken Balti. Out of curiosity, I paused to look up what that was.
1 T Olive oil
600g Chicken breast cut into bitesize pieces
1 Sweet onion sliced
2 cloves Garlic crushed or grated
1 cm Fresh ginger peeled and grated or minced
½ tsp Dried chilli flakes (or to taste, see Note 1)
1 tsp Ground cumin
1 tsp Ground coriander
1 tsp Smoked paprika
2 tsp Garam masala
400g can Chopped tomatoes
200 ml Water (use the empty tomato tin to measure this - ½ tin=200ml/7oz)
1 Red Bell pepper, diced.
1 Orange or yellow bell pepper, diced (the recipe said Green but no my fav)
Salt and pepper to taste
2 T Fresh cilantro, roughly chopped - plus extra for garnish
Instructions -
Place the oil in a large non-stick frying pan, over a high heat, for 1 minute. Add the chicken breast pieces and fry for 3 minutes, until nicely browned, but not quite fully cooked. Remove to a plate, together with all the juices.
Turn the heat right down and place the pan back on the heat. Add the sliced onion and gently fry, stirring frequently, for 2 minutes. Add the garlic, ginger, chilli flakes, cumin, coriander, paprika and garam masala, and gently fry, stirring frequently, for 1 minute. Add the tinned tomatoes, water, chopped peppers, salt and pepper to the pan and stir.
What I learned was Chicken Balti is a fast-cooked, vibrant British, Indian-inspired mild curry made with tender chicken, fresh tomatoes, onions, garlic, ginger, bell peppers, and spices served with rice or naan. Okay, it sounded interesting and well worth a try.
After searching a bit I decided to go with an easy recipe from a site called Easy Peasy Foodie. The only change I made was to substitute an orange or yellow bell pepper for the green. Just not a fan of green bell peppers. While I have no idea how traditional this recipe is, I loved that it came together easily, had a nice milder flavor as my husband doesn't enjoy a strong curry, and it looked delish. I didn’t have any naan, so served it with rice this time.
Never tried Balti before either? This is an easy recipe to start with it. If you enjoy it too, you can explore more options on how to amp it up. If you want more heat, I would start by increasing the dried chili flakes. Enjoy!
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Easy Chicken Balti
Ingredients -
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Easy Chicken Balti
Ingredients -
1 T Olive oil
600g Chicken breast cut into bitesize pieces
1 Sweet onion sliced
2 cloves Garlic crushed or grated
1 cm Fresh ginger peeled and grated or minced
½ tsp Dried chilli flakes (or to taste, see Note 1)
1 tsp Ground cumin
1 tsp Ground coriander
1 tsp Smoked paprika
2 tsp Garam masala
400g can Chopped tomatoes
200 ml Water (use the empty tomato tin to measure this - ½ tin=200ml/7oz)
1 Red Bell pepper, diced.
1 Orange or yellow bell pepper, diced (the recipe said Green but no my fav)
Salt and pepper to taste
2 T Fresh cilantro, roughly chopped - plus extra for garnish
Instructions -
Place the oil in a large non-stick frying pan, over a high heat, for 1 minute. Add the chicken breast pieces and fry for 3 minutes, until nicely browned, but not quite fully cooked. Remove to a plate, together with all the juices.
Turn the heat right down and place the pan back on the heat. Add the sliced onion and gently fry, stirring frequently, for 2 minutes. Add the garlic, ginger, chilli flakes, cumin, coriander, paprika and garam masala, and gently fry, stirring frequently, for 1 minute. Add the tinned tomatoes, water, chopped peppers, salt and pepper to the pan and stir.
Turn the heat up high and bring to the boil. Then turn down and simmer for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, add the part-cooked chicken pieces and cook on low for a further 10 minutes, checking occasionally to make sure it’s not getting dry. (If it gets too dry, simply add a splash more water and stir.) Finally, turn off the heat and stir in the fresh cilantro).
Garnish with extra fresh cilantro leaves and serve with pilau rice and naan bread.
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