My local definately nukes it from cold, ive seen them at it !

Well if i was describe my base as being bland i would mean, i would describe it as say, if i bought a standard chicken curry from the takeaway, then when i got home i took out all the lumps of chicken and so forth, till you just have the sauce, then add about 1-1.5 ltrs of water to that, then that would be my bland base
In other words, when i heated it up and reduced it down it would be a nice curry again.
something like that lol.

I like my base  to be like a weak curry sauce, it looks ,like curry only watered down, but definately tastes like curry, only weaker
Be careful when cooking it, i prefer to taste as its going along and stop when it has lost the raw onion flavour, i find if i cook it for too lond it starts losing its punch and becoming bitter.

Give it a try, but if i was you i would leave out the balti paste, seriously, it'll be nicer without it than with.

Ive got a few recipes in books that call for you to use 4tbsp's of mustard oil for frying with, so its not that weird.

Morrisons sell frozen chopped garlic in a bag for about 85p, the bags are clear and not that big so you'll have to look closely amongst the frozen chips for it.

The best method for keeping most things fresh is to freeze them.
Make your garlic/ginger paste and then place one portion or the amount you most generally use, in an ice cube tray and freeze.
When you want your garlic paste just take it out the freezer half an hour before use.
You'll be surprised how far you can get a lump of ginger to go, and you never have to throw away that piece thats always kicking around the bottom of the fridge.
Also by freezing you dont add anything to it that would alter the taste of it, ie vinegar.

Theres a link here that akes you to a table of contents for lots of different curry powder and garammasala recipes.
http://www.indiacurry.com/spice/index.htm

Ive been told and i believe that mustard oil brings out a lot more flavour from your spices when you fry them.
Try it next time you stir fry your curry, add 1 tsp mustard oil to your vag oil lol, and then cook as normal. Ever since i tried it ive used it every time except once and there was a marked drop in flavour in that one meal.

If its fresh chilli i usually throw mine in with the onions right at the beginning of the frying stage, i think the longer they cook the better the taste.
If its chilli powder i put it in with the rest of my spices, just after the onions are properly cooked for my tastes.
If you use degi mirch which is a mix of red chillies it tells you to add it when the onions are cooked through, this also helps you get that red oil colour.