Surely the kalonji go into the dough mix? Not added on top of the cooked naans surely. Or did I misunderstand you Tim?

Looks like a great recipe Todd, bet it tastes amazing could you post it in a new thread in the "Traditional Indian" section of the forum please -----> http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/board,8.0.html

... That way more people are likely to find it in the future as it'll be properly filed in the relevant section of the forum where people go looking for recipes. Thanks a lot & please share with us a pic of the finished curry

Hi JB. I wasn't thinking of the onions specifically, it seems more likely there's something about the way I which the spices need to be cooked that develops "the taste". I've heard people describe it as "caramelising" the spices in the past, but I think that's a bad choice of words as I don't think spices have natural sugars which can be caramelised in the way that onions and tomatoes do. I do though think that boiling spices in the base (as many base recipes do) develops different flavours to frying, and that slowly frying spices for long enough as part of the base recipe (without burning) could be the key to the magic aroma you've been describing.  I think this is one of the key skills of the better BIR chefs and has tended to die out as the pressure to speed up processes in the kitchen has increased over the years.  Mind you, we've all had our share of crackpot theories on this forum over the years huh?

My last encounter with "that smell" was in a takeaway from Monihar Tandoori in Burnham, Bucks. In their Bombay aloo were onions, bay leaves (European) and cinnamon (not cassia) that were loaded with "that smell". You could see from their dark, sodden appearance that they'd been cooked within an inch of their life. Not burned, just soggy in the way that ingredients become when cooked for a long time so the structure breaks down. I'm convinced it comes about from the way the spices are precooked because when I cook bay leaves as part of precooked chicken or pilau rice, the leaves are still strong and stiff and green in colour  at the end, not soft and floppy and dark like those from my Monihar Bombay aloo.

Thanks JJ, I admire your intent to share info with us, but you'll find this has been discussed here before and is far from clear cut, even though you may have read about it in Julian's books. No doubt some BIRs do adopt this method but it's not clear that the practice is very widespread. There's an awful lot which Julian asserts as fact which is somewhat questionable IMHO. You'll find a lot more reliable info here I would suggest, although it pays to be selective in who you listen to. Good luck

I don't put it down to that geezah, he doesn't seem to be active anywhere at the moment (Facebook, twitter, YouTube or Instagram) so perhaps he's simply ill, or away on a trip somewhere. Bit too soon to call the missing person's bureau I think.