I've found Cardamom pod,Star anise,White Cumin seed & Mustard seed.

Did you also get a sample of curry base from your local? tell me more....

That's fantastic John!
Your base is far more yellow than the one I got
It is , however, very similar to the one from Bengal Cuisine
Can you taste the "taste" in the base
I can in mine, but I wondered if that was a constant in all bases
Is it similar to any base you have made?
I froze some of mine so I could see how close I was , when a made a new base
You said you could taste fresh coriander in it?

The spice mix is a real puzzle though
The mix I got was orange
I now believe it is very important to have this right
See if you can duplicate it or maybe get a "breakdown" from the restaurant
Nice pictures
Thanks

Pete, this takeaway is my absolute favourite, the place has the "smell" when you walk past during the day(closed) and in the evening you can smell it all around the area, the madras curry i got last night had the smell and taste but now 24hours later it just tastes like any other curry and the smell has gone, i will try reheating the curry to see if it comes back. I believe the smell is carried in the oil as my fingers smell of it (that sweet spicy alluring smell) so reheating may bring it to the air.
My base that i got from the takeaway has a very bir like taste to it and it's very nice on it's own, it has a taste of fresh coriander and i think coconut, it's like nothing i've made before but i will try Darths base during xmas and i will add a sachet of pataks creamed coconut that i got from tesco today, i'm also going to make a curry using the base and the spice mixture.
By the way, the spice mixture has large clumps of waht looks like paprika and i can see small green methi mixed in, im gona try and break it down more and do pics too.

Visited my favorite curry house last night and managed to get some base and spice mixture, the gravy taste kinda like a korma slightly creamy texture with sweetish flavour, but you can taste the fresh coriander. The only smell that i can get from the spice mixture is a hint of cummin, it's hard to believe that these 2 make up the madras that i ordered.

Thanks Darth for listing your recipe for the base again, it looks pretty straight forward, i shall give this ago during this christmas period.

Just a though about the missing ingredient: we use tomato in the base and we know that tomato ketchup is used in bir's but has any one tried alittle bit of HP brown sauce as that has a slightly fruity taste and it's very moorish.

Hi Darth,
What size pot do you use for this recipe? I've just bought a stock pot from asda to try your recipe, just wondering if it'll fit.....