Right I'm trying to hone my curry making skills, I know I'm not going to get to match resteraunt standards without taking a similar amount of preparation time but lately I'm finding my curries a bit bland and wondered what I could do to make them a bit nicer.

My favourite flavours are probably cumin and ginger with a nice medium heat.

The general gist of my curries are:
onions ginger garlic & chillies fried,
add spices, cumin ground corriander, cloves, cardamon pods, v. small bit of fennel seed (I'm not a big fan),
add meat (generally chicken),
add chopped tomatos and stock,
simmer till i have the consistency I want

maybe I have the ratios wrong or just don't spend enough time letting the flavours develop but any tips would be much appreciated! Cheers!

Mat

Try getting hold of some curry leaves(Asian grocers sell them fresh or dried), adds a whole extra depth of flavour.

I'm sure you've just forgot to type it, but a handful of chopped coriander just before serving is a must for most curries…

Even though I'll use a lot of my own spice as above, I'll still often use a tablespoon of decent bought curry paste too if I'm making curry in a hurry.

I assume you're frying your spices, yes?
Everything else looks OK if you don't want to add milk/yoghurt/cream, cassis bark, coconut etc, or exchange the chopped tomatos for puree for a drier dish.
Marinade overnight gives extra flavour but of course requires forward planning.

Not much use to you BUT,… we brought some spices back from Goa, bought from a street trader, different types of masala powder basically & all I need to do is mix any one or combo with tomatoes/yoghurt/coconut milk etc, to give you your basic sauce & varying the amounts to give any heat level. You can add any other stuff like extra ginger, garlic, coriander, etc etc. I think we brought about 6 different types back but the flavours you can get by mixing & adding are endless.
Made a fish curry last night with some Ling I'd caught a while ago, **** gorgeous it was.

http://indian-recipe.org/curryforum/index.php

Loads of info there.

A tsp of brown/black mustard seeds and a pinch-1/3tsp of asafoteida into the hot oil before the onions is good, gives a real depth of flavour.
Add the onions and let them fryfor a while before you add the ginger, garlic and chillies and fry till onions are very caramelised. Obviously turmeric in with the tomatoes. Lemon/lime juice and dried or fresh fenugreek leaves added at end are good variations as well.

Use Ghee to fry the onions…and lots of it 🙂

SSP

Use Ghee to fry the onions…and lots of it

+1 (Though, apparently, it is a heart attack in a bottle!). It is probably the best "transporter" of flavour on the planet.

Also, get yourself down to your nearest asian supermarket (no, not your nearest corner shop) – they often have interesting blends of spices and are way way way cheaper than Sainsburys etc. And buy shedloads of garlic there and when you think you've put enough in the curry, stick another few cloves in.

Someone mentioned about marinading the chicken – this makes a massive difference. Think a tikka/yoghurt marinade and it means the chicken is really succulent. Also consider frying the chicken pieces very quickly on a skewer on a griddle if you've got one and adding to the sauce once you've got that right.

All this advice and you'd swear my curries would be great – but, no, they still don't match the local curry house! 😳