Balti sea, balti do

Last night's dinner was pork roast in a Lapsang Souchong dry rub so thick it was almost a crust and butternut squash soup with balti seasoning. I kept meaning to look up the origin of "balti", since the only Hindi/Punjabi cognate of I know means "bucket". Well, it looks like it can join fortune cookies and saganaki on the list of ethnic foods created in the diaspora. In fact, it appears to be humble Birmingham's contribution to world cuisine! No one agrees on the name's meaning, of course. There are those who, in fact, derive it from "bucket", even though the Indian name for the relevant cooking utensil is called kaɽāhī (ਕੜਾਹੀ/कड़ाही), not bāɭtī (ਬਾਲਟੀ/बालटी). The suggestions only get more outré from there, but my favourite is the hypothesis that it was derived from the name of the obscure Balti people of Ladakh in an attempt to make the dish sound more exotic than it was.

ਬਲਵਾਨਚੋਦ ਹੋਵੇ!

Hey, aadroma! What do you say we go back in time and tag-team him!

The Great Gama
World Heavyweight Champion 1910-1955