Last night i made the nicest curry i can remember - ive had a lot worse from a takeaway. The base was bruce edwards recipe (i added celery seeds instead of ajowan by mistake and the smell comin off it was amazing). The chicken was also cooked bruces way.
for a basic chicken curry i put 3 tbs oil in the pan until very hot, a cooks spoon of sauce - the pan ignited at this stage and i stirred till the flames died. I almost evaporated the sauce and added about a tsp of spice mix, a pinch or 2 chilli powder, pinch of methi and about a tsp of "all purpose seasoning"(salt mixture from asian wholesalers). Added another spoon of sauce and reduced, added chicken and cooked for a bit adding sauce as the stuff in the pan thickened. Chopped and added good bit of corriander and finished with a last spoon of sauce, turned down heat and simmered for a minuit or two. I could taste everything - the sauce , spice , corriander and chicken without the whole thing being overspiced. If im not satisfied with a result i normaly eat the chicken and throw the sauce away, but this time i wanted seconds! Another couple of tsps of chilli powder and i would have done a decent vindaloo.