George makes a good point regarding roux.  I have a cookbook from renowned Cajun / Louisiana chef Paul Prudhomme.  (Bought for me 20 years ago by the woman who is now the current Mrs Robbo, before we were a thing, but that's another story).
In this book, he has several pictures of roux in varying degrees of colour, from a fairly light mustardy to a dark brown, depending on the dish being cooked.  He explains in great detail why the roux is cooked to these different stages for various dishes such as jambalaya, gumbo etc.
New Orleans may be an absolute shithole of a place, but damn their food is good, and I met my missis there too. Swings and roundabouts (or traffic circles as they call them here)

Robbo

I'd read a bloated cookbook if it'd get me to BIR results! 

Robbo

I recently cooked the fool-proof Instant Pot electric pressure cooker Butter Chicken curry I've done a number of times. When I came to add the spices I found the missis had helpfully stolen the turmeric and cumin jars to make sure they fit the new spice rack we're putting in the new house.  I pressed on, unperturbed- it's just a teaspoon of each, how bad can it be if they're missing?
Answer: bad.
Even just missing those 2 spices made a huge difference. I tried rescuing a little by adding a good tablespoon of some Nam Pla Prik I had in the fridge (heresy and know, mixing Thai and Indian) and while it added good heat, it was in vain.  I ate the lot of course, but grudgingly to say the least.
We are in the new house now and converting a downstairs bathroom into a walk in pantry so will be fully up and running spice-wise in the next week or so and making my first batch of Taz base in the frozen north of Illinois (where we are getting 7" snow overnight).

Robbo

I hate to waste a curry opportunity Phil.  Always a major disappointment when that happens.

Robbo

Excellent!  I will definitely be trying this once we're in the new house.  Have a look on that guy's channel for cooking paratha too.  They look delicious.

Robbo

Cheers bham but Jetro only serves businesses.  I'm a Costco member though and get our basmati in a huge sack from them. The rest is just local Indian grocers.  Slowly finding my feet here.

Robbo

I find I only get decent BIR style results if I use a curry base. Taz base worked very well for me.
As I'm yet to move into a new house, I don't have curry base, so need to cook non-BIR from scratch.
I recently saw this video on cooking a Pakistani Karahi dish, which I am going to try.

https://youtu.be/4PMmH2-5wJM

Although he does use tinned tomatoes, the amount isn't huge, so maybe that would produce a less sweet tasting dish?  The technique is straightforward and nothing unusual about any of the ingredients.

If you have an electric pressure cooker, I have been getting great results with this recipe.
https://twosleevers.com/instant-pot-butter-chicken/

Probably really easy to adapt to regular pressure cooker too.  The sauce it produces is initially too thin when blended with the stick blender.  I cook it ahead of time, let it cool for an hour or more, then warm it through, adding butter and / or cream and it thickens up nicely.  I follow this recipe straight when cooking for the missis, but have experimented with mix powder, fresh chilies, fresh coriander stalks, chilli powder instead of cayenne and the results have been very tasty.  No onions seems weird but it works.

Robbo

I was very pleased to find a number of Indian grocers and restaurants in a town about 25 mins drive from me, in Naperville, IL.  Someone mentioned there's a place called the Mall of India, so I had a look online.  Says it has everything Indian, restaurants, food court, fashion, grocery etc.  I will be checking it out at some point.

Then I saw this.

https://nalarobotics.com/

Interesting...

Robbo

I recently moved 800 miles or so from North Carolina to Illinois and priority had to be given to finding Indian restaurants.  First on the list is Taste of Himalayas. A Nepalese restaurant that does serve all the usual dishes along with some Nepali dishes we will try out.  I've been here a week, so last night was the first takeout order.

https://tasteofhimalayas.com/

Veg samosa: very tasty, nothing out of the ordinary, just lovely deep fried goodness

Keema samosa : same.  Delicious

Chicken momo: a Nepali dumpling, much like Chinese pot stickers, served with Achar and the missis loved them

Khasi ko Bhutuwa: another Nepali appetizer, fried goat meat with peppers. Spicy and delicious

Chicken Biryani: flavorful, lots of whole spices.  Not up to the dishes I've had in Hyderabad, but then nothing could be

And finally, the inevitable chicken vindaloo.  This dish was a lot darker in colour than the dish I've lived for the past 30 years or so. Looked a bit evil, intimidating even.  But was hot enough, tasty enough, and put me more in mind of a Chettinad rather than vindaloo.

Good quality food, no that cheap, but will definitely be exploring their menu and trying dine in options when some form of normality returns.  Their thali dishes look very inviting.

Robbo

Syed's service onions and also his tomato purée recipe are nailed on staples for me now. I remember when he first came online and have made a lot of his recipes. His chicken tikka marinade is also my default.

Robbo