Makhani

Another cool but dry day. As the bin fairy took the overnight rubbish out to the bin he commented on how damp and cold it felt. The Silver Vixen's weather app confirmed that it may be 6C but would feel like 3C.

Though the Silver Vixen's sister was no longer visiting today, the Gorse Fox had decided to stick with the original menu. Urban-cub and Ellie were still coming, and Cousteau-cub was at home. Because there was so much chicken to cook, this couldn't all be done in a single Instant Pot session. The Gorse Fox would have to do the chicken, then do the rice separately. The first thing on the agenda, though, was to make up some garam masala. With the spices he had ordered from Amazon, this turned out to be beautifully aromatic and far more subtle than the shop-bought mixture. Once the garam masala was made, he started on the chicken makhani (buttered chicken) recipe. Once ready, the chicken was removed from the pot, the sauce was blended with the stick blender, half a block of butter was added with half a pot of cream and some coriander. Then the chicken and sauce were put in the oven to keep warm while the rice was cooked. Overall, it was a great success (though Ellie didn't eat it).

Ellie and Urban-cub stayed for a couple of hours in the afternoon, then went. The Gorse Fox spent some time researching water softeners and induction hobs. We are in such a hard water area that a softener seems like a sensible investment. The problem we have is determining where we could put it. As for the induction hob, it was a recommendation by our new energy supplier. Certainly, we will look into it, but the Gorse Fox does like cooking on gas.