Yes, all of the "ground whatevers" in the recipe were ground seeds of the whatever rather than being ground leaves or any other part.  I don't normally grind my own spices, I just buy them in bulk from Indian grocers, but I did grind mustard seeds of various colours when I was trying to follow Chef Harpal Singh Sokhi's recipes for Tandoori Chicken & Chicken Tikka -- I just couldn't believe that he would use Coleman's mustard, so I felt obliged to grind my own !

Thank for your kind words, Jerry.  But when you wrote "an impoverished BIR version", did you by any chance intend to type "improvised" rather than "impoverished" ?  I rather hope that you did !

Incidentally, I now realise that when I described the recipe, I forgot to clarify that I use what most have called "spiced oil" and I call "recycled oil" (because I don't make it specially; it is just the skimmings from the most recent curry) at every stage in the proceedings, including the pre-cooking of the chicken.

It makes perfect sense to me, and also supports Kris Dhillon's methodology which uses very little spice in the base sauce at all (Stage-1: onion, garlic, ginger, water, salt; Stage-2 : Stage-1 + tomato, turmeric, paprika, oil). 

They look very tasty, Moonster   But the last two images are very dark -- I pulled them into Picasa and gave them a quick tweak ("I'm feeling lucky" for both, "Fill light" for one) : have a look at them at Picasaweb and see if you prefer them lightened.

http://picasaweb.google.com/Chaa006/Moonster?authkey=Gv1sRgCMfGgNTLwsHkYQ#

BIR = "cheap chicken" is probably true in many cases, but the chicken used in Messrs *********'s own-brand non-pre-packed curries is truly tasteless.  For a while I would buy one of their curries for cheapness and then re-spice it to my own taste, but it didn't take me long to realise that no amount of re-spicing can disguise the blandness and texture of their chicken.  I don't know whether Halal restaurants use battery hens or not, but I do know that the proprietor of one in New Eltham (S.E. London) once proudly told me that every week he would go to watch the hens being slaughtered so that he could tell his customers with confidence that he could personally guarantee that they were Halal.

Oh for the good old days of Speckled Hen, Marstons, and all those other wonderful bottled British ales : sadly the liver has issued its final public warning, and -- not wanting to end up like George Best -- I have heeded its cries for mercy.  As to free-range, if ever you've has the misfortune to eat a battery-hen curry (a well-known supermarket own-brand, for example), you will know that it tastes like cardboard, so by buying only free range not only do I know that the bird has had a better lifestyle (albeit rather short), I also know that my curries will have flavour and texture !

Clausthaler Extra Herb : the link you give is 17.99 for 24 x 330ml; I buy from Beers of Europe (http://www.beersofeurope.co.uk/beers/cgi-bin/Beers_of_Europe__Clausthaler_71.html#aDEC190) at 26.97 for a case of 20 x 500ml (330ml is never enough for me !).  Also the alcoholfree.co.uk one is Clausthaler Classic which is a bit sweeter on the palate, and not as satisfying to my mind; I used to swear by Main Thaler but sadly that has completely disappeared, and Clausthaler Extra Herb is a pretty satisfactory substitute.

Ah, that 007 : odd bloke, seemed to keep changing his accent as if he were not confident in his roots ...

Hmm, Chaa007 might have been Andy Reid : does that ring any bells ?  Mind you, he was definitely a non-smoker, so it seems unlikely !

Thank you both for your kind words.  The recipe is a bit ad hoc, since I no longer measure anything other than the spices, but it went something along the following lines :

Using half a free-range chicken, joint, bone, skin and partition, leaving just the two upper wing joints with the bone still in.  Slit these last two once longitudinally.

Make a classic Chinese chicken stock, using the bones, skin, end joints, etc., adding leeks and ginger once the chicken flavour has really come out.  Add one or two Knorr Chicken Stock Pots to enhance the flavour.  When the leeks are thoroughly softened, remove them and the ginger from the stock and puree them (I use a Bosch hand blender) with some of the stock. 

Thin the remaining puree to the desired consistency with the chicken stock, liquidise again if desired, add recycled curry oil, about 1/2 200gm tube tomato puree, 1 teaspoon paprika and cook gently for about 20 minutes.  While the sauce is cooking, pre-cook the chicken using the Kris Dhillon method and recipe (the puree from Step 2 replaces Kris's stage-1 sauce).

Increase the heat to the sauce so as to achieve a gentle boil, add 2 teaspoons Bassar Curry Masala, 1 teaspoon sea salt, the chicken pieces and two hard-boiled free-range eggs sliced in half.  Cook for five minutes, then reduce the heat, add 1 teaspoon ground cumin, 1/2 teaspoon ground fenugreek, 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander.  Cook for a few more minutes.  Turn off all heat, add about 1/4 teaspoon garam masala (or more if desired, to a maximum 1/2 teaspoon), stir gently, garnish with fresh chopped coriander if available and serve accompanied by Elephant atta chapati, Burmese lime pickle, and a good cold beer.

Following my earlier messages regarding a base sauce with no onions (https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=5044.msg48464), spiced oil in base sauce (https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=5015.msg48460;topicseen#msg48460) and the use of Bassar Curry Masala instead of ground red chillies (https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=5021.msg48461;topicseen#msg48461), I thought readers might be interested to see pictures of the results.  Below are the finished dish, and my usual accompaniments : German alkoholfrei beer, Burmese lime pickle and Elephant atta chapati.  I would describe the dish as Chicken Bombay : a mild Madras strength sauce with two hard boiled eggs in addition to the free-range chicken.