Thanks for that info Nessa, I never thought of doing that. You have made me curious about the Asda there, I better check the ghee price out  - i bought a small can from the local ASda and it was cheaper than any indian store!!  Our local Asda has a very small supply of indian supplies.  Can you believe the reason I passed up the curry leaves packet at the Leicester indian stores a month ago was because there were too many in the packet?  Next time I wont make that mistake as I have frozen the leaves previously too with great results!  You just wash them and let the water dry...then just put into a ziploc bag and into the freezer - much much better than dried leaves!! 
Thank you so much for this info - will find the Asda in leicester next time i go - in the next 2 weeks for sure!

uh oh, so it may be the chicken....hmm...mine was just like shoe leather   I will try making a different recipe with it and see what happens next week....we eat meat (chicken) once every 2 weeks or so only - rest is veg.

I have been using the quills but get them from Malaysia - maybe try a chinese type shop. 

Oops, what I meant Ray was that it wouldnt cook after the usual 20 minutes so I kept cooking it, hoping it would turn edible!!  The only clue I have is the tomato paste here could have something in it that prevented my chicken from cooking!!  other than that, everything was the same as in the US.

I will post the exact contents later as I don't have access to the bag at the moment. It is basically a Curry Powder mix, the largest ingredient seems to be Chilli Powder so it is quite fiery. The Asian families near me (Keighley/Bradford) use it in their home cooking and it can be bought in most Asian shops round here. It is sold in kilo bags and have even seen it in dustbins with a scoop so I presume it is used quite a lot. I am happy to send a sample if you would like along with a recipe printed on the bag for a standard curry. However Admin has given his version of a Madras using this powder and it looks to be well worth a try.
On the subject of fresh curry leaves they are sold around here but I don't think they are a major ingredient widely used in curries especially the restaurant style ones.

Regards

Ray

Thanks for the offer Ray..but I usually mix up my own spices...today have been busy trying to organize my spices....cant seem to find the right size glass spice bottles that I need.  I am in the Burton-upon-Trent area so if anyone has seen any indian stores in my area, please let me know.  Going to Nottingham and Birmingham is about an hour drive - so it is not practical for me on a regular basis - especially when my dals and rice are bought in large quantities - just need some spices occasionally.  Curry leaves are probably not used here in BIR - but is used in lots of indian cooking generally - depends on which part of India the dish is from.  Dried ones do not do justice.

Payal