Hi JerryM
The corry stalks: I put them in if I've got them, but don't worry too much if I have not! It's thought to be one of the flavours that 'cook-out' anyway so it's proabably not crucial at that stage. I alaways stick some in at the end of the final dish preparation 'though.
The garlic/ginger ratio I use has come about by careful experiment, it's done to my palate here of course, but I have found the ginger to be too dominant in the past. In fact I started a 'bitterness in base sauces' thread a while back only to sheepishly discover that it was too much ginger that was making by bases bitter, and nothing to do with the onion, derrr!
I take your point about cardomom, some does get in, because it's a constituant of garam masala. I don't like too much cardomom, it remains me of the flavours I got making 'Madur Jafery' style food years ago. It was all very nice but, I was really after a BIR taste. Having said that I use Cardomom in my pilau rice, but tend to stear clear of too much of it in most dishes.
Celery: others may have tried it here independantly, but I first got the idea from my wife who suggested it. Onion, carrot, garlic go into BIR, but also into mexican and mediteranian grub as well. But the later two styles often incorporate celery as well. Also celery is regularly used as a constituant of vegetable stocks. It's one of those flavours that don't seem to dominate, but seems to subtly enhance the other flavours present. I appreciate that assumptions like that don't always come-off, but I really think it works!
As for the whole chicken stock business, I am personaly CERTAIN it makes a big difference. A couple of base batches back I didn't use any, and BOY was there something missing from the currys I made as a result. I had to make a separate batch of stock, reduce it in volume by boiling done, and freezing it in ice-cube trays, so I could add it back whilst preparing each dish, without swomping the curry.
The really important thing about this stock is: 1) using home made, not nasty salty cubes, & 2) the resulting falovour is not concentrated enough to make the finsihed dishes taste noticibly of chicken. It acts a a general flavour enhancer (I keep mentioning those, don't I!); in rather the same way as it works in chinese food. The fact that I use a carcass from the previous evening's roast chicken dinner, I think prevents an 'over-the-top' level of "chickenyness".
I know it's impractical, but I still think it would be brill if we could all get together with dishes we've prepared, I think we'ed all learn so much off each other. That would probably account for the missing 5%!!
I've got to the stage were I'm pretty happy with some of by efforts, madras included. It's not quite as good as the very best I've tried 'up-north', but I believe my attempts are better than any of my local BIRs. I hope that does not sound too conceited, but maybe all my locals are crap!