i`VE SEEN THE TAKE-AWAY STYLE microwave SAFE ONE`S IN tESCO`S if thats any help to you (bloody Keyboard !! ;D ;D ).

If it`s that strong could it be Asafoetida as it gives of a very strong Onion aroma, which incidentally is what my local Take-away curries smell of, & i read somewere that this is what makes take-away`s smell like they do, but i hold reserve on that comment as i don't believe its the whole picture as ground Fenugreek is reputed to be a strong ingredient that is also added to bir curries.And a lot of mass produced Indian dishes & condiments  .
A thought has just struck me !!
If they say you cant re-create the take-away flavor at home because of the quantities is it because of the fact that Asafoetida is that strong that when we put half or a whole Teaspoon in a curry mix that it is so strong that it changes the flavor & makes it incorrect ,therefore should we only pit half a teaspoon in a 10 onion base & not in the final Curry & only a full Teaspoon in a full 30 Onion batch so i translates correctly mmm maybe ? .
something to think about.

Also you can add half a teaspoon of Turmeric when cooking the rice to turn it yellow. Or do half in a separate pan without then mix together when finished & get white & yellow rice !!

Sorry i forgot , you can make a large amount & freeze as i do & it turns out A1 .

Blade the quantity of above spices will be adequate for 3 take-away sizes portions .
So if you now how much uncooked rice will make 3 cooked rice portions, sorry but i always do it by eye !!
That will be enough, incidentally it isn't that critical, you will know straight away if you`ve got it right or not (it`s not as hard as getting a curry right by a long shot!!).The rice will turn out fragrant & compliment your curry MMMM!!!! ;D ;D ;D
Recently i`ve been cooking all the spices together(covered) in the Microwave in a little water ;D ;D for 20 seconds or little longer until they are a little soft.
& then adding them to the cooked drained rice this gives excellent results. Hope this is of help feel free to ask anything else coz my rice is ace !!!

Yes they still taste good but oddly mine taste better after freezing (well the ones that were not so good at the time of being cooked which is good really because they get eaten & not wasted ).
But I'm getting very varied results as I'm trying so many different combinations of ingredients quantities & method etc.. etc..
I have high hopes for the recipe on this thread because it is very much the same as the one given to Curry King & myself.
The base mix tastes good enough to eat on its own .
The Celery is the main "new ingredient" which i did not get around to trying & i like the idea of putting it all in the pot ,i gather this would be less time consuming & therefore more than likely to be implemented by a Take-away. Do you agree ??

Nice one Pete will look forward to your results 

I`m going to cook a 30 onion version & see once & for all what the real difference is when you cook in large quantities & i`ll get a bigger pot if i have too although i think the one i`ve got is big enough.  I`ll post my results with ingredients & method in one post as not to confuse everybody. ;D ;D

Would using the water from the separately cooked Chicken do ?
Or do you need to boil up bones an all !! for ages ?? 

I also wonder why we cannot scale this down (although i am going to cook the 30 onion version next weekend & i`ll post my results).
Does anyone really know why recipes cannot be scaled down, is it the fact that a large batch takes a little longer to achieve its optimum cooking temperature which in turn changes the characteristics & flavor of the oil .
I have found that you can make a curry very sweet by heating the oil on very high & literally cooking it for 10 minutes then putting in the ingredients, is it all down to the oil how long its cooked & how high perhaps this is why we cannot achieve the same result all the time ?? who knows but its fun anyhow !! ;D ;D ;D