The little package that everyone should have in their pantry

This is a post about food. When L. arrives on my door step, the makings for dinner usually arrives at the same time. "Got any taters? I broughta coupla steaks." Once in rare while steak is not on the menu, and I get caught off guard with nothing out of the freezer for dinner. Today was one of those days. So I made dinner with this marvelous little package ...... Asian Home Gourmet Indian Butter Chicken. Trust me! EVERY pantry should have a stash of this stuff! Here's what I created. First, I put some rice on to cook.I happened to have Arborio rice, but no one will mind if you prefer some other kind. Then fry up some onion in a bit of butter.I like to do this in my wok. It's a cultural fusion thing that amuses me. I also like my onion in great big chunks. You might prefer your onion minced all fine and dainty. That would work just fine too. Once my onion was cooked a bit, I chopped up two fresh tomatoes.
I happened to have fresh tomatoes. You can use canned tomatoes or tomatoe puree. You could probably even use tomato sauce. Live dangerous! Work with what you've got in YOUR pantry!Then I squeezed in the little Butter Chicken spice packet that this amazing dish is all about ...
Then I added about 1/2 cup of yogurt.Yes, I use whole milk, high fat yogurt. It tastes better. If God wanted me to eat yogurt made with skim milk, the danged cows would only produce skim milk, and they don't ... humans have to intervene and "do things" to the milk to take the milk fat out. So leave the milk fat in for me, thank you very much. End of rant.Mm mmm! This always smells SO YUMMY when it's simmering! The above photo doesn't do its golden colour true justice. I turn the heat down and let this simmer together for ten minutes or so, and then add bite-sized pieces of uncooked chicken ...What? NO CHICKEN IN THE FREEZER??? I ALWAYS have chicken in the freezer ... well ... apparently not today. But I had a package of raw prawns, so I substituted. Living dangerously, remember? Queen of unexpected cultural fusions and all!I let it all simmer until the chicken ... er, PRAWNS were cooked. (If you do this with chicken, make SURE the chicken is fully cooked.) And then I served it over rice ...... and made sure we both got an extra ladle of that fabulous golden sauce. This is COMPANY-COME-TO-DINNER food, people, so serve it on the GOOD dinner plates and sprinkle on some fresh parsley. Make it an occasion! Believe me, it TASTES like an occasion!L. wouldn't let me take a picture of this meal being enjoyed ... bad hair day or some such pathetic excuse ... but I am allowed to report lots of satisfied smiling followed by "is there any of this stuff left?"I have to confess this is the first time I've tried this with prawns, and this amazing little package did not fail to produce very tasty results. I have made it with chicken many times, and I have even made it with TOFU (I recommend the firm tofu stuff) for a vegetarian pal. It's got enough ZING that it's not dull, yet is mild enough that spice-heat-wienies ... not mentioning any names here, L. ... need not be scared off. Seriously folks, YOU NEED THIS AMAZING LITTLE PACKAGE IN YOUR PANTRY!

Next food post will be Blackberry White Chocolate Loaf ... oh yeah! Until then, you'll find me out enjoying my balcony ...

Hmm. L. got off with pleading bad hair day to avoid the camera after sneaking this unflattering shot of me enjoying my after-work beer and crossword puzzle on the balcony. I'm suspecting something unfair there ...