One thing i find cooking indian from scratch is that you still have to activate the spices first cooking them on the stove... then throw it in the sc...
yummo.
That's what I do too - for Asian and African spice mixes too. They taste sweeter if they get caramelised a little bit. I usually chuck them in the fry pan along with chilli and ginger and garlic and some oil and when it starts to smell really yummy I chuck them in the SC.