This is an interesting debate; I'm not sure there *is* a clear definition of curry powder really.  I guess it comes down to what ingredients it is intended to be a substitute for, which varies quite significantly by brand and style according to the ingredients lists I've been looking at.

Just to muddy the waters a bit further, certain ingredients can end up being added more than once is some recipes (including mine!).  I use cumin at the initial tempering stage, as well as using it in my garam masala.  Coriander is another one, with the seeds going into the masala and the leaves/stalks going in at the end of the cook.

I always thought of curry powder vaguely as a balancing ingredient, though that doesn't quite fit either as some don't include ginger and others don't include garlic.

The only conclusion I am prepared to draw is that it is a variable mix powder that isn't a good substitute for garam masala but can be a good alternative to turmeric on its own.

That's a decent range of dishes and the menu includes my Dad's favourite (kitchdi).  It's been a while since I've made any though... might make a batch over the Christmas break!

I'm going to give the yoghurt thing a go next time I cook a chicken curry too - it wasn't in my handed down family recipe, but it might be a change to my version if it works out well!

The only dish I currently use yoghurt for is Kadhi, which I've always made with plain potato slices that are cooked in the sauce but I see the internet disagrees with my recipe and most people seem to make it with pakora that are added at a late stage of cooking.

Strangely enough, I did save and then use some dripping left over from cooking a lamb keema a few weeks ago

I'd bought the minced lamb from a different source to my usual one and the mince was quite a bit fattier than I was expecting.  I' skimmed off an alarming amount of fat from the cooked dish and, because I never throw anything away, popped it into the fridge in a small container.  Fast forward a week when I rediscovered it as I was scrabbling around trying to see what I could make for lunch in the 20 mins I had to prep and eat it on a busy work day.  The drippings were added to leftover rice, nuked for 5 mins and called Lunch.  It tasted glorious!

I think there is still a space for fora   I'm on Facebook a lot, but but it's very much an "in-the-moment" platform, as finding and following conversation threads is quite difficult, even for group pages.  I made a brief foray into twitter a few years ago but I really don't like using text speak (couldn't make myself leave off the "e" ) so I struggled a bit with the character limit.