Fakeaway recipes in Birmingham

Birmingham invented the balti. The story goes that a Pakistani restaurant called Adil's in the Sparkbrook area started serving curry in a thin, flat-bottomed steel wok (a balti) in the late 1970s, and the dish took off. Birmingham now has more balti houses than anywhere else in the world — the area around Ladypool Road and Stratford Road is the balti triangle.

The balti is a curry, but specific: cooked fast over high heat in the steel wok, with green chillies, ginger and fresh coriander. Often drier than a standard curry. Served with pilau rice and naan. The recipes on this site cover most of the balti house canon — chicken tikka, lamb, king prawn, vegetable.

Beyond balti, Birmingham has the strongest South Asian food scene outside London. The Balti Triangle, the shops on Ladypool Road, the restaurants along Stratford Road — these are the places that have been serving proper home-style cooking since the 1960s. The supermarket shelves in Sparkhill and Washwood Heath are the best in the West Midlands for South Asian ingredients.

For chains, Birmingham does Nando's properly, McDonald's religiously. Greggs is a religion here — the bakery chain that started in Newcastle has more outlets in Birmingham than in any city outside its North East home. Pizza Hut has its UK HQ in the area.

The Birmingham Balti is the city's signature dish. The Lamb Shanks Balti, the Chicken Tikka Balti, the Mixed Vegetable Balti — these are the orders everyone has at their local. Reproduce at home: get a balti pan (a flat-bottomed steel wok, available at any Indian grocery or online), get the spices fresh, and don't overcook the meat.