ORIGINAL: Jonbouy
I was a curry groupie for a while and used to hang out the kitchens in my local indian eaterie for tricks and tips...very handy and fun times.
That rings a bell Jon - many lifetimes ago when I worked for myself in the licenced trade, many of my customers were guys who worked in some of the local curry houses and I picked up some excellent tips and advice.
Armed with their advice and a little experimentation, I was pretty useful at knocking up restaurant style Indian food (as opposed to the 'authentic' recipes from India a la Madda Jaffrey etc) - good as it was, cooking for two or three is very expensive, you really need to be catering to make the techniques pay.
I must be doing something right though, my next door neighbour commented earlier on 'that lovely smell'!