It is really important when heating your spices, that you don’t burn them. Some cookery books will ask you to toast or roast your spices for quite some time. I would like you just to tease the oils and aromas out of these spices very gently. In my recipes you will see the words sauté or cook ‘until fragrant’. It should literally take about a minute after them being adding to the heated dry pan, that the spices start to release their incredible aromas. Try to really stick to the timings of when to add the different spices. That way you will always achieve the best balance of spices, and create the most aromatic and flavoursome curry. Otherwise you can have either an overly spiced dish, or one that has lost too much spice.