TWO balti chefs from the Midlands have stolen a title from Cleckheaton chefs.

They entered the culinary record books by rustling up a belt- busting onion bhaji which tipped the scales at 186.5lb.

The title had previously been held by three chefs at the Veena Indian Cuisine Restaurant and Takeaway in Cleckheaton.

In November 1999, the trio cooked up a bhaji which weighed in at almost 132lb, or 60kg, and measured 31in across.

The one that beat it took just under two hours to deep-fry after an unsung army of onion choppers helped chefs Mohammed Ali Haydor and Tirlok Chana prepare the dish.

Having joined five other men to lift the delicacy out of 135 litres of simmering sunflower oil on to a yard-wide platter, Mr Haydor joked: "Lifting it out of the pot was the easy bit - eating it may take a little longer."

It is known that 99lb of onion and 53lb of flour went into the record- breaking snack, alth- ough the two Birmingham-based chefs remained coy as to the quantity of spices which were used.

The record was organised for the National Lottery 10th anniversary celebrations.