Hi again, CA i know the oil was supposed to be left in the base, i could have messed the results up by removing some, but i don't think i did, i still got oil seperation at the end of the stir-fry stage so i reckon it went well. Also i wanted to collect the oil, spicificaly to try using spiced oil. Ive never yet tried to use it and this oily base seemed the best way to have a bash.
I believe that there are others myself included who will now use this base as is, thus changing the stir-fry stage slightly to allow for improvements, and some will change the base to suit.
I will stick to the stir-fry stage for now as i believe the base to be sound, the spice mix is good too, im mainly looking forward to making a Balti, thinking that the extra onions and balti spice will be all this process needs to be bloody good. Honestly i don't think its far off this recipe. Ill post the results. If others do the same then we are progressing one way or the other.