Welcome to cr0 Jim, I'm glad the first attempt worked out alright 

Do you heat the base before using it?

I usually stick whats left in the fridge and eat it for breakfast the next day, lovely 

I've only been eating curry the last seven years or so and wouldn't know an 'old' style BIR curry if it jumped up and slapped me in the face.  An old style curry to me  has raisins in it and was made by my mum 

Welcome aboard 

Hi and welcome to the forum, any questions just ask 

Welcome to the forum, let us know how you get on 

The thing is I am not over keen on most of the average places near me so always try and emulate the better BIR's that I go to.  I think this puts me in a half way situation, better than the average BIR's around my area but I don't think they are as good as my favourite BIR.  Saying that I have had dodgy curry's from all of them and quite a few emerge from my own kitchen 

I did some digging into chaat dishes a while ago as a restaurant near me did a fantastic chicken chaat, https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=54.0

Like a few other dishes khalia etc... it doesn't seem to conform to much and I have since had them elsewhere only to find them completely different.

I am with you there DD, I have tried hundreds of recipes and techniques, with spiced oil or without and while there are subtle differences nothing simply adds the taste.  I know some restaurants don't reuse oil some do so to me that can't be the key, it is all skill and practice I am sure, given how many currys a chef would make a night they would likely master the art a lot quicker than us part timers.  Saying that I think mine are restaurant quality, do they have the taste, I can't be 100% sure as I am to much of a critic but I know I would prefer one of my own to over half the BIR's in my area and thats good enough for me.