1016

16 words over on my 1k Photo Challenge fic. Sigh. Will be a rough night of cutting. Wish I could say I'm more productive during lockdown, but I'm not. Maybe I'll bake something later. Don't know. Been working on the pool today. Mowed the lawn. Vacuumed. Dusted. Should really scrub out the bathroom. Wrote 1,016 words. Grrrr. Not unproductive I guess just nothing to show for it but a bucket of sludge and leaves and a short fic.

Wish I was better at tidying and organizing. House is clean, it's just a cluttered mess. I think I just have too much stuff. The house is big enough for us, there's just too much. Then again, someone has a hardback book collection, vinyl records, music recording studio, and a full carpentry setup so of course there's no room. Pick 1 hobby and 1 career and that's it.

Butter Chicken

Ok, so I didn't post it here. So here it is.

Butter Chicken - start a day in advance or earlyish in the morning. Don't get hung up on the measurements, make it close. I rarely measure except for the spices.
Serves 4

Ingredients:
1.5 lb chicken. Breast, thighs, whatever floats your boat. Use 1lb if you're not feeling too carnivorey. Chop it into cubes.
Youghurt a few scoops to coat the chicken.
Some salt as needed
Pepper, as needed
2 Teaspoons chili powder, divided
1/2 Teaspoon tumeric powder
6 Tablespoons butter, divided
One big onion or two smaller ones, diced, about 1.5 cups
3 Teaspoons Garam Masala
1 Teaspoon cumin
1 Teaspoon cayenne pepper powder
1 Tablespoon ginger, grated or mashed
3 cloves garlic, minced
a bit of cinnamon, 3 inch stick or 1/2 teaspoon
Tomatoes - ~5 roma, diced, more if you have a more watery type of tomato
5 oz? small can of tomato sauce
1 cup water
1 cup heavy (double) cream
Rice, as much as you want. 1/2c dry per person if you're a riceaholic
fresh cilantro for garnish, chopped

Prep:

In a big bowl, mix up your chopped chicken with the youghurt, salt, pepper, 1 teaspoon of chili powder, and the teaspoon of tumeric. Cover and marinate that shit, the longer the better. Obvs, put it in the fridge if longer than 15-20 minutes. I do mine overnight.

Melt 2 Tablespoons butter in a large frypan over medium. Brown off your chicken and remove from the pan, set aside.

Melt another 2 Tablespoons butter in pan, add the onions, garam masala, remaining teaspoon of chili powder, the cumin, ginger, garlic, cayenne, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Pretty much all spices but the cilantro. Cook that off until fragrant.

Add the chopped tomatoes and tomato sauce. Let it simmer.

Add the water and cream and bring it back to a simmer. Make sure you stir it up.

Dump the chicken back in. Cover the pan and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes under medium.

Add the last 2 Tablespoons butter and season with salt and pepper. There will be a lot of sauce.

Serve by putting the rice on one side of the serving bowl and the chicken/sauce mix on the other side. Garnish with cilantro.