The end of (Japan’s) Spring season update: both Yukihira Souma and I are back to his kitchen!

First things first, I finally got my hands on Saenai Heroine no Sodate-kata Girls Side 3!

I’m still stoned by the fact that the shipping of this book costs twice as much as the book itself. Thanks, Amazon. Profit to you.

Different to Western novels, the book opens on the left side and reads top to bottom, right to left.

 

I really want to write more about Saekano in details and how seriously hot the contents of this book truly is, right from Utaha spelling the end of Eriri’s selfishness out loud causing the latter to rage and slapped her multiple times in the face, to Megumi getting called out for being a coward, following Tomoya’s actions and betraying Blessing Software by Michiru.

“DON’T LOOK DOWN ON ME, DON’T F**K AROUND WITH ME!” the same phrase Eriri used as a kid and as a teen.

 

Utaha’s words ultimately sink Eriri’s ship while they think to themselves on how they are already past ‘normal’ and it’s that normal quality in a girl Tomoya loves Megumi for.

I’m actually glad that the anime did original story on the Betrayal Arc, giving the duo more time to build up friendship because that didn’t truly happen in the novel until the slaps now.

Oh wow, someone’s already doing the God’s work by giving out summaries in English. Check out Magnavalon’s post on juicy events in this side story volume while we all prepare for the penultimate (13th) parent story volume!

 

Megumi is the best waifu

 

Secondly, after the end of Saekano Flat, her popularity grows exponentially to the point that she’s literally making a historical change in waifu wars. In voting contests all over the internet, she’s taking the challenge to the already popular idol anime characters.

The guys at Moe Moe World got a huge surprise as she evenly matched up with Love Live!‘s Watanabe You, so they did the unjustified.

Naturally, a lot of people were not happy with the result partly from the fact that Megumi popped out of nowhere to win (duh, Saekano Flat IS underrated outside of Japan, that’s why).

 

Lastly, it’s Megumi’s turn to take out Accel World‘s no name of a girl! Head over to ISML to give her butt kicking powers~

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Unfinished business

 

I’m still working on my 30 day anime challenge. I freaking knew it! Had WordPress not got a draft option, I’d have been absolutely screwed as I simply can’t make the challenge on a daily basis. I also have spring season anime to finish off, namely Attack on Titan and Tsuki ga Kirei.

Summer anime chart looks promising, though unlike spring, I’m going in head first, cold.

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Shokugeki no Souma: San no Sara

 

Yes! I’m as hyped as most of you are! Judging by the released visual, they are planning to skip the nonsense and head straight into the most gruesome arc of the currently running manga series. If done right, Nakiri Erina will actually get some ‘development’ and obviously, joins Souma’s harem.

 

San no Sara = third plate = a third dish from me also!

I’m going to need to pull out a recipe worthy of going up against the master of spice (totally not a spoiler!).

Get ready for a cheapo version of…

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Butter Chicken Curry

 

Despite calling it my cheapo version, this is actually the most expensive dish I’ve made to date, even with preparations.

The tools:

• Chopping Board – To chop stuff, obviously!
• A wok – To simmer and all that jazz.
• Knife, spoon and err, something to stir the wok.
• A sieve

Just to make sure – this is a sieve. ^_^

 

The ingredients:

• Chicken – I used 300 g of breasts for up to three servings
• Garam Masala Spice – This is just a mixture of many spices but it’s easier to call that. Though, even this should be in the herbs and spices section of your supermarket.
• Lemon Juice
• Salt
• Sugar
• Fresh Cream – Not more than 200 g and NOT WHIPPED
• Onion – Whole
• Garlic – Just a few cloves
• Coriander Leaves (optional) – For decoration!
• Tomatoes – Two for a single serving
• Your favorite spices – Hell if I know what they are!
• Chili Powder
• Butter
• Rice – Go Basmati if you’re hardcore.
• Naan Bread (optional)

 

After a bit of research, Butter Chicken curry is literally just left over Tandoori chicken in specially cooked and spiced tomato sauce. But I ain’t got the time to make your Indian mama’s Tandoori chicken! So this is why I’m going to cut corners and…

Lemon juice, salt, chili powders, butter and Garam Masala in there, leave it in the fridge overnight if you have that much time.

 

Cook the rice first because you should be done with this curry just a little while after the rice finishes.

This part here is absolutely optional: You may fry the chicken until it’s just slightly cooked then leave them aside.

Get the chopping board and your favorite knife ready, cut the tomatoes into quarters and leave them be. You can skip this step entirely if you buy tomato cans from supermarket, though do buy the crushed and sieved one if that option exists. Cut the onion into fine, tiny pieces and caramelize it. Caramelizing onion takes a lot of time and cannot be done by cutting corners. Fry in medium heat and watch it slowly become dark yellow. If too fast it’ll skip straight to brown/crisp.

Spare a minute to also mix garlic in there and fry only for a little longer, then put in the tomatoes and stir a little, allowing the heat to reach in order to make them soft.

 

Once that happens, pour the entirety of the wok’s content to a blender.

Blend on!

 

Not for too long – a minute will suffice! With the free time, I don’t know about you but I take this opportunity to clean up after the mess that is the chopping board. The wok also needs to be cleaned because you’ll be pouring in a more refined sauce.

Let the sauce sit for a minute to cool down a little and then pour the content back to the wok through a sieve this time. The oven’s heat should be on very low at this point.

Notice a stack of plates? This is one of the things you have to put up from your flatmates – be warned, young ones!
Wait, I’m still young myself, gah.

 

Well I bought a ‘crushed and sieved’ tomato in can but I still need to have it go through a sieve again. This is why you don’t fully believe whatever the packaging says, friends!

Once you’re absolutely done with that, there will be evidence of why this method needs to be performed.

EW. Chuck that away.

 

For my first try with this dish, I didn’t have a sieve and yeah… I ate everything, including blended tomato seeds and skins.

Now raise the heat to very high because you want to simmer the curry and eventually cook the (incoming) chicken in it. Make sure that you have something to cover the wok because this thing explodes.

When that’s done, it’s spice time!
Add salt, sugar and your favorite spices plus Garam Masala into the mix while trying not to let the curry explode on you. I recommend just a single teaspoon of salt, a table spoon of sugar and a teaspoon for each of your spices. Too much spice will cause the curry to go back to the yucky form.

Quickly pour fresh cream and give it a swirl. The color of the curry should change from vivid orange to lighter now because of the cream’s dairy content. Chili powder will reverse the color slowly back to orange but if it gets to that point, you know that your curry will be spicy as hell.

Just a reminder here: the curry is still simmering and therefore can explode at any time. If you think it will happen literally the next second, just lift the wok up – turning down the heat is too slow as the massive heat energy is still within the stove top. Don’t always believe the scene you see in anime where turning off the stove top stops boiling water from exploding out immediately.

Right so at this point you should be adding the second most important ingredient, chicken!

 

(Chicken) Makhani roughly means smooth and buttery so there has to be butter! Add it in yo. Also, the optional coriander leaves if you desire.

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Phew, all done.

 

 

Second day of the same curry and the color changes lol

I’ll crush you in Souma’s place, Akira Hayama!!!

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