"P.S. I would be interested if you can remember what the name of that Bradford curry house was.  I doubt it still exists but I probably ate there, back in the day"

it was just to the south of the film and photograph museum, maybe only 5 mins walk.. It looked like any british greasy cafe from the 60's. Formica table tops and plastic mats. no cutlery but as many chapati as needed. I remember it was uphill to the museum and a bit of a struggle after too much to eat....

"I use this base. https://glebekitchen.com/indian-restaurant-curry-base/"

that was my first and only attempt, although mine was a bit redder due mainly to the kashmiri chilli powder i added in. i dont like curries too hot and this chilli is mild but great colour and flavour.

I have ordered a few pouches of Shaheen sauces to try out, thanks for that

thanks for all your replies and the warm welcome!!

is this onion soup/ gravy base commercially produced?

i have only tried making it once myself from a recipe found via the e-book British Indian Restaurant Style Cooking

Crawford, Mick. British Indian Restaurant (BIR) Style Cooking Volume 1 (British Indian Restaurant Style Cooking) . Mick Crawford. Kindle Edition. 2011.

i have been browsing the site for a basic base and tbh some of them are way too complex, with too many ingredients and too time consuming to be believable authentic BIR commercial recipes.

could you point me to a bog standard one for, say, the sort of generic veg curry served with a biriyani? - I'm a vegetarian btw.

thanks

ps

its going to take me years to go through everything on this site. props to the mods