Joshallen2k, thankyou,thankyou,thankyou, for diving in and having a go. The finished article looks just like theirs. Interestingly enough there was no surface oil on the finished base at The Ashoka it may be because they had allready used any available for cooking. They did use the oil on top of the Bunjara and I witnessed them reclaiming from cooked curries in larger pans that were cooked for the buffet.
A couple of pointers if I may, I realise I may have confused folks but thought I clarified above somewhere or on the other thread but they did in fact use Ground Cumin. Did you use the precooked Garlic/Ginger pate with turmeric in? The Chef stressed the need to keep enough water in throughout the cooking, your photos suggest you could have got away with more.
Your Madras looked the business given your comment about the oil. I cant wait to have ago myself. I intend to get more recipes up today or tonight sometime. Panpot