You're right, and I shudder to think what's in it.

Let me know how you get on.

Most seem happy with the curries they are creating so I suppose everyone is right? 

I just find it hard to fathom that the addition of a carrot or another ingredient into the base is going to make any difference to the final taste, especially with all the spices added when preparing the meal (mind you with the amount of chillies I eat my taste buds are probably less than 100% anymore).

Yep, you're right, I agree, to a point though.
There's a quote from an Indian restaurant owner in the 70s or 80s that said we've got away with selling onion gravy with a few bits of chicken in it, Indian curries were better then. I leads me to believe that the stock for a really good curry is not going to count to the final taste.
The boiled onion base must've the one they all used back then? No carrots, no peppers.
Which leads me to conclude that the base gravy has no reflection on the curry you produce. It's the way you cook the ingredients, mostly the cheapest you can find, altered, that gives the final taste, not the base.

Well it's a lot less hassle Axe. I did think about putting bits under a grill to crisp them but the taste was so good the entire lot had gone before I made my mind up.
I like to think that ground beef is making up for the chicken lips and anal tissue you normally get in a donner! :
The sliced bits can be grilled, easily, on a barbie or a grill.

I reckon the base gravy is important Axe becuase it gives the food that element of consistency that we need, I don't think it counts that much toward the final flavour though mate, I think that's down to spices, oil and cooking method. Remember most of the flavour has been boiled out by the time you use the base and will be overawed by the spices, oil and prepared meats you use.
I'm not discounting a good base, I've used loads of them, but I think they are there to add the curry consistency to the food and not the taste?

Cool Jerry, let me know how it goes mate. My family was made up to try donner kebab again (not that we ever really ate it in the UK it's just that you get a bit nostalgic!)

You may need to add a little water to the curry, it really thickens it up.

I'm almost there, it's about 90% right...

Chicken Naga - Hotter than the rectal gasses of the Lucifuge himself.

Pre-cooked chicken
3 1/2 ladles of warmed Taz's base gravy
2 tablespoons of oil (cheapest available)
1 tablespoon of finely chopped garlic
2 tablespoons of tomato paste
12 whole green finger chillies, stalks chopped off, or 6 nagas if you can get them
1 tablespoon of mix powder (Taz's is good)
3 teaspoons of hot chilli powder
1/4 teaspoon of asafoetida
1 teaspoon of dried fenugreek leaves
2 desertspoons of chocolate spread (Yes, chocolate spread!) (the stuff you get in a glass jar with a lid)
1 teaspoon MSG
2 tablespoons of chopped coriander.




Add the oil to your pan set at medium heat. Allow the oil to warm.

Add the chopped garlic. Keep stirring, scraping the pan and cook the garlic until it turns a very light brown in colour. Take from

heat.

Add the tomato paste. Chuck in the green finger chillies. Return to the heat and stir in with the edge of the chef's spoon. Keep

stirring until the oil goes reddish brown in colour.

Add the chilli powder and asafoetida, add the mix powder and fenugreek and stir around for 10 seconds, shaking the pan contents

about a bit.

Add a ladle of the base gravy and turn the heat up, keep stirring until it boils. Turn down heat to medium. Reduce until oil

separates.

Chuck in the pre-cooked chicken and chocolate spread. After about half a minute add the rest of the base gravy, ladles at a time to

keep the heat going.

When it is bubbling again add MSG.

Keep stirring!

After about 5 minutes add the finely chopped coriander. Leave to stand for a minute or two with a plate or lid over the pan, serve

garnished with coriander, on a bed of pilau rice and ideally with a keema naan and a few beers.

Isn't the fact there are so many different bases making delicious curries proof that the base is not really the answer to getting the taste we're after?

I know, you can't buy it in Hobart Tasmania though. It costs a lot less to make it yourself though, plus you know what's in it!  ;D