Phil/PaulP, I have made Kd1 base 2 or 3 times & recipies almost to spec..1st time the only changes i made were garam masala: cinnamon powder instead of whole & i used British bay leaves(iv still never got round to buying the asian ones) Ive made a few allegedly 'garam / punjabi masalas' as the menus here sometimes mention them in every other dish, most of the blend recipies i used were from the net. I'm still not sure what makes a bir spice blend, if anything at all. I'm not convinced that they are nothing more than chefs touches. The juice wasnt worth the squeeze if you know what i mean
Never knew what I was aiming for with the base 1st time around...it tasted pretty good on on its own...the smell from boiling onions & garlic/ginger was awful(clothes/hair) really bad!!
The low spices in the base & dishes had me almost doubling the amount in the recpies, which taught me what burned & raw spices taste like & if i remember right, there was no tomato puree used in the dishes or g&g
Comparing those to any others i've made, the spice levels could be brought up with careful cooking & I made some pretty good curries, but I now realise the dishes lacked the g&g & tomato puree flavours of the recipies on here
Never did the pre cooking of meats with the 1st stage paste or added a spoonful to a dish at the end of cooking
regards
ELW