I have made this base a few times also, and appart from my terrible start by burning everything at the very first stage, it has always turned out great, even when I have forgot to put things in at the right point.
I have just realised :-[ that I never posted a follow up to my vegetarian madras that I had planned for christmas. It went down a real treat. In retrospect, I would have probably put in a few more potatoes than I did, and maybe steamed the veg for a little less time, but as it was my first time using a steamer I followed instructions perfectly, not taking into account that they would continue cooking for a further ten minutes in the sauce. We ended up eating it three times as a curry on its own, and once along with a full blown takeout from my local curry house with vegi vindaloo and bombay potatoes, nan breads and bahjis, raita and dhall and my vegi madras as a side dish. I guess that technically we had that twice as there was curry for breakfast the next day too!
I also recently made the vegi madras for another guest only a few weeks ago. The commemt she made was that it was better than any curry she had ever had from a takeaway, probably the best one that she had ever had! ;D I have given some of that batch frozen as a kind of ready meal to an old lady who lives near me, so it will be interesting to see what she thinks of it too. I shall let you guys know.
I now need to do something about the extra weight that I am gaining because of all my curries.