1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon ghee
1 medium onion, sliced
2 pounds skinless chicken pieces
6 medium tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup ground cashews or almonds
1 dried red chili
1 teaspoon garam masala
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 green cardamom pods
1 teaspoon ginger puree
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
2/3 cup plain yogurt
salt and pepper

1. Heat olive oil and ghee in a large pot over medium heat and add the onion, sautéing until tender.
2. Add the chicken and fry until lightly browned on all sides, then add the tomatoes and a generous pinch of salt.
3. Grind together cashews, chili pepper, garam masala, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, garlic and bay leaf. Stir the spices into the yogurt.
4. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until sauce has thickened and chicken is tender, about 45 minutes.
5. Serve over rice and garnish with fresh cilantro, if desired.

Makes 4 servings

I made a bit of a booboo again. I got intoxicated and lost the desire to cook. I'm not sure how anyone can be a "functioning" alcoholic when I can't even go one day without my life falling apart. So I'm behind a day again, having eaten nothing but toast and leftover Butternut Squash Soup. Minor setback. I made what I had intended to make yesterday (technically "today" - boy this is confusing), which is Butter Chicken. Can someone tell me what the main difference between butter chicken and chicken tikka masala is? I can't figure it out. That or why butter chicken is called butter chicken if there's no butter in it.

The recipe I used is different from ones I have previously. The ingredients are the same, but the preparation is backwards. In this recipe, you cook the yogurt and nuts first and add the chicken and tomatoes. In every other recipe I've made, you cook the chicken and tomatoes and then use the yogurt and nuts to thicken it. I decided to try it this way to see if it is somehow better, but it's actually quite inferior. You can't really boil down yogurt to reduce it like you can tomatoes. The seasoning was also a little off, but it gets the point across. I served it with some Chickpea Rice.

Butter chicken seems like a pretty introductory curry, like tandoori. It's got a mild heat level with a lot of Indian-spice flavor. Normally I would also make this with skinned chicken legs and thighs, but we had chicken breast, so I used chicken breast instead. I actually think that it suffers a bit from this, because the stewed dark meat has a much better texture and flavor.