Hi Jamie,
I never used spiced oil, I think it's a waste of time and effort. You can provide an excellent curry without going to all that bother.
To be honest, I look at Indian dishes I get from a takeaway and I go not only on taste but colour too.
From where I come from and we all have to remember here that every region varies....
A Madras should be an orangy/amber colour as is garlic chicken masala, Jalfrezi, pathia etc
A Vindaloo is a reddish colour as is Chikcen tikka masala etc
Korma/Pasanda is a straw yellow colour and funnily enough a Dhansak too, I guess they must use yellow lentils down here instead of red..... or more food colouring

But whatever the colour, the taste obviously has to be right

But to get a dish the right colour, "to what I consider the right colour based upon what I get down here", I would just add more food colouring. I don't bother if it's for myself, but if I am cooking for company then it needs to "look" authentic
