i've made a 3rd batch of the healthy curry base (no salt, no oil) and managed to get this one in balance. the base still came across as a sort of raw onion taste.
i made 3 off curries this time using small amounts 1 tbsp of pataks pastes (2 off using the patak tikka massala and 1 off using the balti paste). i was almost for chucking them as they were still below par - down to the base not being good enough. i have though binned the patak tikka massala jar (the one bought in error) as it's well poor in comparison to the balti paste. i made Dippies biryani to go with the curry and it worked out better than i'd expected - not brill but u certainly weren't forcing yourself to eat it.
i'm beginning to think salt is needed in the base to somehow cook out the onion. i also need to add in some carrot to eliminate it as a possibility. it could also be that i just need to cook for longer (currently blended then 1 hr).
i've also reduced the oil in the curry down from 1 tbsp to 2 tsp without any detriment.
it's very stark that u can't eliminate the salt from the final dish ~ 0.25 tsp is essential.
the cooking method is to use a deep sauce pan and the splash guard, add ingredients and stir to mix, hob on full, bring to boil, cook for 5 mins stirring say 3 times. the pan needs to be old as it needs cleaning with steel wool at the end of cooking.