Welcome to the obsession. After ruining several good shirts and pants I finally got myself a good chef's pinny  ;D

Do you toast them first then put them through a spice grinder? Is this mix used in BIR - I have all those whole spices and wonder how it's used, like garam masala or earlier in the cooking?

Edit: did some Googling and I see it's always used as whole spices. However Fenugreek is like little bullets, do the seeds soften or pop on cooking?

I've only been a slave to the Obsession for a few months now and still learning as I go. I'd never heard of Bunjarra onion paste till I read this thread, so I did a Google Search and Cory Ander's recipe turned up straight away for PanPot's Ashoka Onion Paste. 

As I read it, it was immediately obvious that this is basically what the Australian Indian Restaurant base "gravies" consist of. The gravies are adjusted with ingredients such as coconut, almond, vinegar etc to make a number of gravies in common use for the different "families" of curries such as butter chicken, vindaloo etc etc.

They are heavily caramelised and are pastes, although called "gravies". So I guess a curry made with BIR ingredients then enhanced with a Bunjarra would maybe fall half way between the two styles?

I'll give it a go - I often use red onions even in my BIR base, for the sweetness. Interesting that this is mentioned as an old school paste that was in use in BIR restaurants, and could explain why it became the basis of AIR curries as the first wave of restaurateurs came here from the UK rather than from the Subcontinent itself, courtesy of their acquiring UK citizenship then emigrating here.

Julian posted a tour of Manzil's and came across an onion precooked "paste"  at 2.23 min. BIR kitchen ingredients

Yes the spoon is a normal supermarket spoon, not a cute little Chef's spoon, and far too cumbersome for the job. I'm going back to the Hospitality superstore I got the pan from on Friday to see if I can get a spoon more like you see in the curry YouTubes.

The burner is just a generic Chinese ten quid camping stove that uses the gas canisters. I've got a couple. Brilliant for a quick curry.

Thanks for the comments guys. I should also mention that in the excitement of the moment I completely forgot to put in tomato puree, but it turned out ok nonetheless.

Next time  ;D

Tracked down pans at a hospitality warehouse, got the 20cm and was worried it would be too small, as it turned out it's ideal for a single serve. In fact after eating all that in the photo for a late lunch (no brekkies) I'm about comatose 

Goat Jalfrezi, boneless pieces marinated then precooked same as lamb. Seen here straight out of pan with some stock, and beautifully tender. BIR quick method base gravy as per Julian. Spice plate.

I loved the way the pan heated all over almost instantly, the garlic ginger mix was frying on the sides as well as the bottom. Then at the end of the cook I was getting those caramelised almost burnt areas that I kept scraping off the sides and stirring back in. Love my pan.  ;D

Salvador, I noted the Paleolithic link there. Are you interested in Paleo yourself? I used to follow it quite strictly a few years ago, definitely an interesting concept and curry is an ideal Paleo dish. I lost about 10k as well.

If made with rendered beef dripping or lard (which should work just fine) then most curries tick all the boxes and if you are prepared to ditch the rice and naan and replace with something like wild rice or even mashed pumpkin as a side dish then it's all within the rules.

I dropped out as I got banned from the Paleo Forum for calling an American member a (moderated), didn't realise that one of the mods was Australian  ;D

I love salt but due to a congestive fluid retention condition I have to cook low sodium. However after a few weeks, you don't miss the salt if you wean yourself off gradually. Comes a time that you get a curry from the t/a and all you can taste is salt that overwhelms everything.

For an extra zing, lime juice or tamarind, extra garlic and ginger etc really takes up the slack. However sometimes I must admit I fall off the salt wagon, but then go for a few k power walk and get a sweat up to dispose of some of it. 

Edit: dripping and lard are great. Heart attacks were very rare until the aftermath of the Second World War when most of the animal stocks in Europe had been destroyed and they introduced veg oil and margarines. My Granddad had a heart attack in the 1950s and they didn't even know the word - he had a "thrombosis" and students used to come and look at him in the hospital as a curiosity.

There was an article in the local rag "Courier Mail" quite a few months ago about Indian restaurants in Brisbane. Can't find it now but it was one of those fluff pieces like "the best 10 fish and chip shops", "the best 10 cappuccinos" etc that they trot out on a slow news day.

One of the comments online was "why didn't you put in the xxxxx restaurant, they do a true onion based sauce that.....". And I think it was from a UK Ex Pat ... I'll keep searching and see if I can find out where it was.