With in house  baltis off the menu I’ve been having weekly takeaways which in some cases haven’t been the best! Chicken Korma and Butter Chicken are two culprits swimming in over creamy and sweet gloopy sauce. So when one of my favourite balti haunts, the Royal Watan, told me they were introducing several dishes to honour their grandmother, I had to give one a go. I took the risk of ordering a Balti Butter Chicken and how glad I am that I did. Yes. it was wonderfully buttery but was well spiced with just a modest portion of cream which didn’t over power the dish … a fine example of the more subtle cooking from the north west of the Indian subcontinent.

Arguably, the most influential food magazine ‘Vittles’ recently published a piece on the ‘Rise and Fall of the British Curry House‘ by Sri Lankan Brummie Thuli Weerasena. Whilst critical of  politicians in the past like Robin Cook trying to ‘curry favour’ with multi culturals by lauding dishes like chicken tikka masala and also being critical of the many overpriced ‘street food’ joints springing up, Thuli gives the Brummie dish a good press. Well worth reading.