Mushroom Capsicum

One fine day, H came home with a big grin on his face. And then proudly showed me what he got. A packet of button mushrooms. Make something nice for me baby, he croons. I’ve never liked mushrooms and at my mom’s place we never even bought mushrooms. And in this one year of marriage, I’ve had to dig through the net and search and search for recipes. So then I found this one by Nita Mehta. 7am, and I’m digging through my recipe books for a recipe. Confirm that I have all the ingredients and then set out to prepare this for the first time to give it to him in his tiffin.

I applauded my own guts, what if it wasn’t good enough? More on that later.

Here’s how it goes,

Ingredients

A cup full of mushroom- wash, dry and cut into thick slices.
1 big onion- finely chopped
3-4 garlic flakes- crushed
1 green chilli- finely chopped
1” ginger-shredded
2 tomatoes-blanched, peeled and then finely chopped
1 capsicum- cut into thin long strips
1 Tbsp tomato ketchup
¼ tsp chilli pwd
Salt to taste
1Tbsp oil
½ tsp ajwain (carom seeds) can use oregano too.

Heat oil, lower the flame and add ajwain.
Add onion and cook till slightly transluscent.
Add garlic, stir.
Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, green chilli and ginger.
Cook on low flame till tomatoes are dry (takes about 5-8 min)
Add mushroom, salt and chilli pwd. Cook till mushrooms are done.
Add capsicums just before the mushrooms are done.
Cook for a few minutes and you’re done.



Things I learned during this process, mushrooms shrink if cooked for too long. My 1” mushrooms became so tiny, I had to search for them. Let the tomato gravy cook well and then add mushrooms.

And then during his lunchtime, H texts me " just had one bite and I love it. "
So much for risk taking at 7 am, It worked. And when the tiffin box came home in the evening, H had practically licked the tiffin clean. I wondered if he’d washed it and brought it back!!

It was the best compliment he gave me, besides some obnoxious loud belches on the phone.

Mushroom Matar Malai

H loves mushrooms and I can't stand them. But Ido my best to make some for him. Scouring the net, the books for something to make for him. Recently my MIL had bought a book by Nita mehta. Saw something interesting and so decided to make it for him.

And on a completely different note, I'm meeting a fellow food blogger Arundati of Escapades in Ahmedabad. will let you know how the madness goes. Talking food and shopping .. what could be a better combination.
The weather is losing its chill now..last few days before we can savor hot soups, hot biryani's before the heat becomes unbearable. And then it shall be time for cold curd rice, cold soups.

Getting ready for some more food. My younger brother's wedding is in two weeks. Food and more sweets..outfits for me are going to be re-cycled. I've just worn my wedding outfits once, that too just a year back..so why waste money on something new. Its the age of recession, the age of spending wisely. Will def post some photos of that..

Here's the richest recipe for mushrooms..with butter, cashews, cream and some more cream...good for when you want something rich once in a while..




you will need :

200 gm small mushrooms
1 cup peas - boiled or frozed
4Tbsp kasoori methi (this is a must, gives it fabulous flavor)
1tsp ginger-garlic paste
pinch of pepper
1 Tbsp butter (I used one tsp)
2 onions - ground to a paste
1/4 cup malai -mix with 1/4 cup milk and blend or 1/2 cup thin cream
salt to taste
1/2 tsp chilli pwd
1/2 tsp garam masala
pinch of dry mango powder (amchoor)
1/2 cup milk (use as needed)

Dry masala
1/2 stick cinnamon
seeds of 2-3 green cardamom (chhoti elaichi)
3-4 cloves
4-5 pepper corns
2 tsp roasted cashew nuts

Method

Trim the stem of mushroom. If they are big, cut into two, else leave them whole.
heat 1Tbsp butter in a kadhai and add mushrooms. Stir fry on high flame till mushrooms are dry and golden. Add 1tsp ginger-garlic paste, 1/2 tsp salt and pinch of black pepper. stir for another minute and remove from flame. Keep them aside

Grind all the ingredients of the dry fragrant masala to a powder in a mixer..

Heat 3 tbsp of oil, add the onion paste and cook on low heat till oil seperates. Don't brown the onions.

Add the ground masala powder. cook for a few seconds.

Add kasori methi and malai and cook for 2-3 minutes till malai dries. keep on low heat.

Add salt, chilli powder, garam masala, dry mango powder. stir for a minute.

Add the boiled peas and mushrooms.

Add 1/2 cup milk to get a thick gravy. Add few tbsp of water if the gravy is too thick. Boil for 2-3 minutes and serve hot.

If you omit the mushrooms, and add more kasoori methi and increase the amount of peas, you can make matar methi malai. Tastes great..

More later about when Tejalcooks met Escapedes...

Paneer in Yogurt gravy

As soon as I read that JFI for Nov was Paneer, I was elated. I'm not an accomplished cook, but I love to experiment with whatever ingredients that I have. An paneer is something I love. DH loves it.
Besides, paneer is the vegetarian's meat. If you go to any restaurant that serves non-veg food, the veg menu will have paneer in the largest number. Sure, they can make 20 dishes with meat, but in veg there is only paneer. Did all the vegetables rot in their kitchen?

I love reading cookbooks, and trying stuff from them. Sometimes, they're even under my pillow coz I fall asleep while reading them. My DH can't figure out why I read mini cookbooks as bed time reading!

Here's a recipe I made last week. It was one of my nightime readings that made me notice this. It turned out to be a nice one...in spite of the milk and yogurt, there is the zing of green chillies and ginger, and kasoori methi. I think its from nita mehta's book. I need to find some more cook-books...suggest some good traditional ones if you can. I'm a gujju by birth but andhraite by palate.




Here's the recipe for Paneer in yogurt gravy.

Ingredients
200 gm paneer - 1x1" pieces
2 Tbsp oil
1/2 tsp shahi jeera (black cumin)
1/4 tsp red chilli pwd, salt to taste
1 1/4 cups milk
ginger and coriander to garnish

For the yogurt paste
1 large onion
1 tomato
2 green chillies
2" ginger
3/4 cup yogurt
2 Tbsp kasoori methi

The how-to
put all the ingredients of the yogurt paste into a mixer and grind to a smooth paste. as smooth as you can get it.

Heat oil in a vessel, add shahi jeera. Let it release the flavor. then add yogurt paste and cook till the water from the yogurt evaporates. the masala should thicken slightly and oil starts leaving the paste.

add salt and chilli pwd, stir well. At this point, take the vessel off the fire. add just about 1/4 cup milk and mix well. also all the paneer pieces and stir so that the masala coats the paneer.

Return the vessel to the fire and on low heat add the remaining milk. Keep stirring continuously till it comes to a boil. Continue cooking on low heat till the gravy is to the consitency of your liking.

serve with ginger juliennes and fresh cut coriander.



This is my first ever entry into any event. This goes to JFI with the theme Paneer, hosted by The spice who loved me.

This event was started by Indira of Mahanandi, and it has been 3 yrs since she started this event.