Thanks for that. Obvious really 

Thank you very much for your extremely informative answer. I was a little surprised as some forums simply give a facetious answer as if everyone is an expert. Anyway, to get to your reply, are you saying it is best to add  shop bought curry powder? I am having a look at the links you provided.

Thank you very much again

PS This might be a stupid question but what does BIR mean? 

Brian

Hi, my name is Brian and my wife and I have been trying to make a curry from scratch (no shop bought curry powder) but with little success. We like the Patak Tikka Masala paste curry but as I said we are trying to get away from any shop bought stuff (apart from spices of course). I would like a base recipe that would taste similar to the Patak one, or at least, fairly close to it. If there is one could someone point me in the right direction?

Thanks

Brian