Time is of the essence

Although I love cooking, I prefer to spend as little time as possible on the preparation of some dishes so bought products are called upon to save perhaps more labour than anything else. I'm not apologising, even chefs admit to using bought puff pastry.
There are some excellent brands of curry sauces that I use regularly and keep a variety that will go with meats I have in the freezer (beef, chicken, mutton), then all that needs to be done is fry some onions, adding and browning the meat and pouring over the sauce to cook on until the meat is tender. There maybe the addition of chopped tomatoes and sliced carrots to bulk it up (useful if short on meat and also to provide more helpings). Curries improve on keeping, so make ahead for the next day, cover and kept chilled, or make loads and freeze.

With curry there is always a bowl of assorted side dishes served alongside because they look so good and guests really tuck into them - not only that they also make the curry go further. Small bowls of thinly sliced tomatoes, dessicated coconut, flaked almonds, quartered hard-boiled eggs, mango chutney, and raita. Sliced bananas go well with chicken curry. Naan bread and samosas (home-made using filo pastry) freeze well, so these are made when I feel like bothering. If I don't feel like bothering, poppodums are served instead. Samosas, because their vegetarian innards are pre-cooked need little thawing before baking/frying.
When serving rice, soak for several hours to shorten cooking time (2 measures of rice to 3 measures of water) add a couple of bay leaves (not to be eaten) and a spoonful of cardoman seeds to give added flavour. No bay leaves - then add lemon zest.
Tip: Take away the heat from a spicy curry by eating yoghurt. Odd but true, a spoonful of sugar is also a good remedy.