I often don't plan, except as to the main raw ingredient - whether meat, poultry, fish etc or delicious vegatarian. (Actually Indian vegetarian food is one of the few that I really look forward to tasting).
I usally have a variety of vegetables available and of course a store of different rices, popadoms and so forth.

I use about 40-50 spices regularly, and even with Indian food, I often look to other 'non-Indian' spices - like Arabian Sumach for instance to deliver a hint that I think is missing as I work.

I never taste as I cook - I inhale deeply. It tells you much more about how the food is going to turn out.

I've also used fruit (more common further East from India) to sweeten up a traditional sauce.

All in all, Indo-Asian food offers far more delicious possibilities for the creative cook. And it is hard not to make the food look good too.

Historical note: my father was in India during WWII and became extremely enamoured with Indian culture. I was eating curry at the age of 4-5, as my mother was happy to experiment. She did draw the line however at us eating off banana leaves.

It wasn't until much later that I realised what a peculiar thing this was in middle class England. But we did live in a Midlands city with a large Indian population due to the textile industry and textile education available. It was easy to tget the ingredient.

Nowadays curry is the national food of England.

You can't be me, I'm taken