Hi Bod, you may find if you up the quantity of European bay leaves that you saturate the flavour. Indian bay is hard to track down at times, in its absence I use normal bay leaves and a tiny piece of cinnamon as the flavour of cinnamon is similar but less subtle, so add it little by little until your happy with the taste. Hope that helps.

Hi Chris, the small plant is showing signs of nitrogen deficiency, but this is probably because the bigger plant is assimilating all of the nutrients faster than the little one. When a plant has that many nodes(the number of sets of branches it has put out) it really needs a pot all of its own. Its the same with most plants, the root is the most important part. I find poly bags work better than pots as they retain moisture better and as the soil dries out the bag shrinks around the compost so no air or light get on the delicate root. Nice little collection you have there, all the best 

Hi Derek, if your looking for pastes and spice mixes you could try the Mr huda range from spices of India, they do a huge range, including the dreaded Pataks, but also Ferns, Minara and Nishaan. Some of these are better than others so its a case of trial and error. I've included the link

 http://www.spicesofindia.co.uk/

Hope that helps

I tried the natco recipes some time ago, what a pile of s**t. If natco are claiming that this is the authentic bir taste and smell then they must have the worst curry house in Britain nearby. The red onion is slightly sweeter than white but overides the balance of any of the dishes you make with the base and a more balanced taste can be achieved with the addition of sugar at the end of the cooking process(something many curry houses sneak in but keep quiet about). As pointed out by parker 21 the onion paste is a complete waste of time, you may as well put a bar of soap in as it would probably add more to the flavour than the rancid taste it imparts. All in all if anyone tries these recipes, be warned, you are just chucking away valuable ingredients.

My sauces were fairly dense so that might explain things...
Thanks for your reassurances!!

Dear Ted, you might find it helpful to have a kettle of boiling water on standby when you cook your sauces and curries. Sometimes the heat and different ingredients make the sauce a little too thick. Never add cold water as this not only affects the cooking process, it will wash out a lot of the essential oils released by the spices. The water also helps the oil to have something to float upon, just don't add to much at a time more can always be added but its harder to dry the sauce out if you over wet it. I find about 2-3 tablespoons at a time works fine.