‘Balti fraud’ bite back as classic Birmingham curry dish invented in the 1970s bids for UNESCO protected status

Birmingham's famous balti could be given a special UNESCO status after fears the iconic curry dish is under threat from so-called “balti frauds”. 

Campaigners say the British classic - invented in Birmingham in the 1970s - is falling foul to cheap imitations. 

The iconic dish - enjoyed by millions of hungry Brits - is made with either chicken or lamb cooked over a very hot heat in a thick sauce and served with naan bread. 

It gets its name from the pressed-steel balti dish, traditionally made in the Second City.  

Crucially, an authentic balti is both cooked and served in the same wok-shaped bowl.

To preserve the heritage of the balti, restaurant owners are trying to curry favour with the Government to grant the dish special recognised status. 

Nine restaurants in the city’s famous Balti Triangle - a cluster of Kashmiri-style curry houses in south Birmingham - are backing the bid.

They have applied to the Department for Culture, Media and Sports to have the Birmingham balti listed in the inventory of living heritage. 

The UNESCO-backed scheme seeks to safeguard living cultural practices like bell-ringing or the Highland Games.

If successful it could mean Birmingham's most famous curry is given special recognition to encourage restaurants to follow its one-dish cooking method.

'Balti fraud'

Zafar Hussain, 40, who runs Shababs in Ladypool Road, hopes a form of official status will help combat “balti fraud”. 

The dad-of-three said: “We’ve been running since 1987, and it’s the legacy of which my older brother and father started up. I want to protect the balti status. When the balti trend took off in the 90s, normal curry houses wanted to jump on the balti bandwagon. Our argument is to do it properly.  

“As a basic rule, using an actual balti bowl and cooking and serving in it. When the new wave curry houses were opening up, they were cooking in a pan and transferring into a shiny balti bowl which is not a balti. 

“This is the true balti fraud that’s become a big problem in recent years. Curry came from Pakistan, but balti was born in Birmingham.  

“We’re just looking for accreditation for our tradition. We don’t want people to be served an imitated balti which might taste like any other curry.  

"A balti is not a normal curry, it’s special with different qualities. We want restaurants to have this sign up showing the customer will be served an actual balti in its traditional form.”  

A balti is cooked over a giant flame and served in the same dish to preserve the delicious caramelisation formed around the bowl.  

Balti campaigner Andy Munro is leading the charge to have the dish officially recognised, saying it “is in Birmingham's DNA”.  

Andy, who is the secretary for the Association for the Protection of the Authentic Balti, said: "All curries are very popular in Britain, but getting this mark for the balti is an important thing.   

"Balti started in 1975 as a Brummie-Pakistani dish, and then it became wildly popular in the 1990s.  

“If you compare a pseudo balti to a normal one, the taste is unbelievable.  

“When you have a balti, it’s half of the amount of fat of a normal curry.”  

'I'm not anti-London'

Andy, who wrote The Balti: Its Birth, its Boom Years and Beyond, says he is determined to preserve the integrity of the iconic dish. 

He added: “I did a survey and 40 per cent of people didn’t know what a proper balti was.  

"I'm not anti London but jellied eels and pie and mash pale into insignificance with the Birmingham balti. 

"I want it preserved because it's a Brummie thing." 

Andy hopes that if the Birmingham balti is formally recognised then restaurants will cook it in the traditional way. 

A final decision is expected to be made in the next six months.