Tip for Cooking a Great Curry in Penang

Prawn Gulai Lemak we prepared based on recommended amount of spices by the hawker (2 February 2014)


I discover that the secret to good curry lies in the ingredient, particularly the spices. In Penang, we usually do our marketing at Jelutong. However, if we want to cook curry, we head off to the Bayan Baru Market. The reason is, the spice seller at the market is masterful in blending the right combination of spices.
Whatever we want to cook, we just tell her, and she will advise us how much spice we need. Today we cooked prawn gulai lemak, so we just told her how much prawns we are cooking, and we are quite confident we will get a tasty combination of spices. Alas, the spice seller at Jelutong Market was unable to give us the taste we want, hence the journey to Bayan Baru.
I am writing this with the assumption that you know how to prepare curry if you're given the spices. If you're totally clueless about cooking, then this tip won't help at all.