Spices need to be fried only for a few seconds in hot oil, or they burn. You can add tomatoes after a few seconds and then continue with the rest of the recipe. If you are following a recipe which has no tomatoes, add the main ingredients/water/liquid; whatever the next step is. If you ask me with a specific recipe in mind, I can give you a better answer.
I am glad that you like our recipes :-)
Perhaps wrongly, I add a little more oil in those cirumstances. There's always this dilemma of trying to get the onion nicely browned, but trying not to overdo other things. But, yeah, the spices don't need much time, as Mamta says (and she knows WAY better than me!)
Phil