A few thoughts on the base-

The onions have to be initially cooked for long enough

Which onions are best to use out of the cheap readily available onions?

Chef spoon measures , what is this in Tbs? Chef spoons vary greatly in size

I based my attempt on 1 chefspoon=3Tbs

Oil rising to the top of the finished base, is there enough oil in the base?

The final cook after the garlic tarka is added is very important, mine changed dramatically in this phase of the process

Morning lc, as I made a 1.5kg version instead of the full 3kg version I used 1 small garlic clove which I put through a garlic press then added to 1 chef spoon of hot oil and fried for a minute or so until browned, stiring all the time.

Morning all, blended the base earlier this morning , brought back up to heat, it tasted ok nothing special really, or should I say nothing more special than your normal base.
I then fried the garlic, added garlic and oil to base , added half ladle base to the garlic pan and sizzled and de-glazed and added back to base. The smell was becoming more BIR , a little taste and it was improving a little. Brought the base upto boil for a few minutes and turned down and left it on a very gentle simmer , as I kept popping into the kitchen the aroma was getting stronger , the flavour was improving .
After 1 hour simmering turned off heat had a taste, wow , bloody lovely, definately has something other bases havent.
Is it the best base I have made ? possibly
Is it as good as the restaurant bases I have tasted? Possibly.

I will not say this is the one, eureka, goldilocks moment or anything else about the base until I have done some tests on it. But what I will say is it is bloody lovely and very very promising!!!!

Thankyou Jb for sharing this , I am really looking forward to anything else that surfaces from your takeaway experience, cheers

Cheers Jerry, cant seem to find anything on ebay for the mix powder though.Is the iffu base on the forum(sorry just been lazy there)
Good luck with th oil search

London , using cross between my base, taz base and kd2 base, all experimental of course, all very good but no eureka moment as of yet.
Thats why I am now making Jb's base in the search for the perfect one ( for my tastebuds anyhow), whether it will be better than anything else remains to be seen , but my fingers are well and truly crossed.

Yes LC it will be a Madras, or then again a vindaloo! But not tonight, time got the better of me so the base is been left overnight unblended and no garlic tarka added. It shall be continued tomorrow morning, fingers crossed it should still taste great.

Stew I will take base pictures tomorrow, unblended, blended and garlic tarka added

Yep LC thats how I feel about the base I've been using, but as I have just run out it was time to make a new batch. Just make a half batch and if you don't like it , no real loss.
I must say this is looking, tasting, smelling very promising indeed. Just the blend then garlic tarka and re-cook to do, then leave it to sit while I pop out for a while, and give it a proper taste later

Oh I'm not sure on that, those onions cost me

Cheers London, schoolboy error pure and simple, I'll tempt fate again-first stage nearly complete, sweetening up nicely, aromas are very nice, and it doesn't taste like I used water from the North Sea! Bonus
Looking forward to 2nd stage and the garlic tarka addition

NOTE - When scaling down a recipe please remember to always scale down all ingredients accordingly, DO NOT half onions, peppers ,carrot, tomatoes and not half the turmeric and salt, otherwise when tasting during the first stage you will realize you have dropped an almighty bollock and have to bin the entire contains of the pot and start again from scratch, Thankyou.