A balti curry is prepared by cooking spiced fresh meat and/or vegetables over high heat, then adding extra spices for a second cooking. In this recipe, we use potatoes and carrots combined with mustard seeds, ginger, garlic, curry powder, turmeric, and chilli powder. The Spicy Potato Balti is paired with homemade Sweet Potato Flatbreads.
Sweet Potato Flatbreads With Spicy Potato Balti Recipe
Serves 6-8
Ingredients:
2-3 large sweet potatoes
500g high-grade flour
4 tsp active yeast
2 eggs, at room temperature
3 tsp sugar
1 tbsp vegetable oil, plus extra to grease
Spicy Potato Balti
2 onions, finely chopped
800g waxy potatoes, diced
3 large carrots, boiled, pureéd
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
2 tsp fresh ginger, grated
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 tsp curry powder
2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp chilli powder
½ cup cream
½ cup natural unsweetened yoghurt
4 tbsp tomato purée
1 cup vegetable stock
3 tsp garam masala
½ cup coriander leaves, chopped, to garnish
Method:
Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan forced). Bake whole sweet potatoes until tender, about 30 minutes. Allow to cool.
Remove skin and push through a sieve to yield about 200g purée.
Place flour in a large bowl and make a well in the centre. Dissolve yeast in 1 cup warm water and pour into well. Mix a little flour into the well; set aside for 10 minutes until mixture bubbles and expands.
Add egg, sugar, oil, sweet potato and ½ teaspoon salt to the well. Mix with flour and yeast to make a soft, elastic dough. Knead for 10 minutes on a floured surface.
Cover with a clean tea towel and set aside in a warm place for 1-1½ hours to rise.
Preheat oven to 220°C (200°C fan forced). Using floured hands, mould dough into 16 small balls.
Grease a baking tray with oil and place 4 balls onto the tray. Press down to flatten.
Bake for 10-15 minutes, until golden and springy to touch. Repeat with remaining dough balls. Leave bread wrapped in a clean, dry tea towel until ready to serve.
Meanwhile, to make potato balti, bring a small pan of water to the boil. Add onions. Cook until soft. Drain and purée with a hand blender or food processor.
In another pot of boiling water, half cook potatoes in salted water. Drain and set aside.
Boil carrots until tender, then drain and purée using a stick blender.
Pour oil into a large saucepan over high heat. Add mustard seeds and cook until they crackle.
Add pureéd onion, reduce heat to low. Cook onions gently and slowly until they turn golden brown. Add ginger, garlic, curry powder, turmeric and chilli powder. Cook through for 2 minutes. Add potatoes and carrots.
Mix cream, yoghurt and tomato purée in a jug with the stock. Add to the saucepan and mix well.
Turn up heat until sauce begins to simmer. Simmer for 10-20 minutes until potatoes are just cooked through. Stir occasionally.
Sprinkle in garam masala, stir well for the final 2 minutes of cooking. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and serve with sweet potato flatbread.
