Creamy Mushrooms | Mushrooms cooked in Spicy and creamy gravy

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Button Mushrooms are one of our family favorites. Mushrooms are not just delicious but also very rich in nutrients. It's cholesterol free and low in fat, also rich in Vitamin D and B-complex. All the more it's antioxidant property is going to keep you in good health with good immune. Need I say more?


I make Mushroom Omelette, Mushroom Biriyani and sometimes I mix it with other veggies. I tried making something different with it this time. Inspired by Hamlyn's 200 curries cook book I made these spicy creamy mushrooms with some variations. It was an instant hit with my family. Here is the recipe for you to try. I hope you like it as much as we did.

 

Ingredients:

White button mushrooms : 500 gms

Onion: 2
Garlic: 4-5 cloves
Ginger: 1/2 " piece
Peppercorns: 1/2 tsp
Tomato paste:2 tbsp
Cooking Cream: 100 ml
Butter: 2 tbsp (to saute mushrooms)
Oil: 1 tbsp
Cinnamon stick: 1 piece
Cloves : 2-3
Cardamom: 2
Green chillies: 2
Turmeric: 1/4 tsp
Red chilli powder: 1 tbsp
Coriander Powder: 1 tbsp
Cumin powder: 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves for garnish

Method: 

1. Put Onion, Garlic, ginger and pepper corns in a blender and grind to a smooth paste, keep it aside.

2. Wash the mushrooms and pat dry. Slice or quarter the mushrooms.

3. Heat butter in a wok and saute the mushrooms until they turn golden in color. takes about 4-5 mins on high flame. Remove and keep aside.

4. In the same pan heat oil and add whole spices (Cardamom, clove and cinnamon). Saute for 30 seconds or until the oil is fragrant.

5. Add onion paste and saute until the raw smell disappears - for about 1-2 mins.

6. Add tomato paste and all the spice powders - turmeric, red chilli powder, coriander and cumin powder. Add salt and mix well and cook until the oil separates.

7. Add cooking cream and mix it will, bring to boil and reduce the flame. Add sauteed mushrooms and mix everything well.

8. Cook for 2 more minutes and turn off the flame. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with any indian flat breads.






 

 

Notes:

1. You can add more cream if you like more gravy.

2.  You can substitute cream with curd - Add a little milk to the curd and whisk it to bring to the cream consistency.

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The famous Saoji chicken Curry and Jawar Roti from North Karnataka

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Saoji (or Savji) food is a popular delicacy from Maharashtra and North Karnataka region in India. If you have been in these places you would have definitely come across Saoji Khanavali or Saoji hotels that serve jawar roti with spicy, aromatic and very delicious Saoji curries. The most famous one is the Saoji Mutton curry. My husband loves jawar roti with Saoji curry that we get in North karnataka. Making Jawar roti is bit of a task for me, I've failed miserably couple of times. This weekend I tried my luck again and made this delicious saoji chicken curry with jawar roti. To my surprise the roti came out perfectly and I was doing the happy dance :-)

Saoji curry is made with a masala powder prepared with dry red chillies, garam masalas, dry coconut and the special ingredient "jawar flour" (Sorghum/White Millet flour) Coconut and Flour in the masala help to thicken the curry. If you have the masala handy it will take less than 30 minutes to prepare the chicken curry. 

Ingredients:
Chicken 1 kg
Oil: 2 tbsp
Cumin seeds: 1/2 tsp
Chopped Onion: 2
Ginger Garlic Paste: 1 tbsp
Turmeric: 1/4 tsp
Salt to taste
Lemon Juice: 1 tbsp
Saoji Masala powder: 3-4 tbsp 

Method: 

1. Heat oil, add cumin seeds and saute for 30 seconds.
2. Add finely chopped onion and saute until it turns into golden brown in color. 
3. Add ginger garlic paste and saute until the raw smell disappears.
4. Now add in turmeric powder, salt and the saoji masala powder, give a quick stir
5. Add in chicken pieces and mix well. 
6. Add enough water and cook it covered for 20-25 minutes. 
7. Adjust the seasoning and consistency and turn off the flame.
8. Add coriander leaves and freshly squeezed lemon juice. 
9. Serve hot with jawar roti/chapathi or rice with a piece of lemon wedge and onion roundels. 

How to make Saoji Masala:

Ingredients:

Cinnamon: 2 stick
Cardamom: 6-8
Cloves: 6-8
Black pepper corn: 1 tbsp
Black cardamom: 2
Mace: 1 string

Star Anise: 1/2 
Stone Flower (Kalhoovu/Dagad Phool): 1 piece
Coriander seeds: 2 tbsp
Fennel seeds: 1/2 tsp
Sesame Seeds: 1 tsp
Caraway seeds: 1/2 tsp
Red chillies: 8-10
Grated Dry Coconut: 3 tbsp
Jawar Flour (Sorghum/White Millet): 2 tbsp

Method: 

1. Dry roast cinnamon, cardamoms, Clove, Peppercorn, Mace, star anise and stone flower on medium heat for 2 mins. 
2. Add coriander seeds, fennel seeds, sesame seeds and caraway seeds and roast until its fragrant - about 1-2 minutes.
3. Add dry red chillies, coconut and jawar flour and roast for another minutes. make sure you do not burn the flour. 
4. Let it cool and grind to a coarse to fine powder and store in airtight jar. It can be used for 2 weeks at room temperature and about a month if refrigerated.

Making Jawar Roti:

There are only 2 ingredients needed to make this roti. Take a cup of jawar flour in a wide bowl and bring a cup of water to boil. Add half of the water to the flour and mix with a spoon. Do not mix with hand as it's very hot and can scald your palm.  Add water little by little and make a thick dough by kneading it well.

Dust the work top (or rolling board) with dry jawar flour. Take a big lemon sized dough and keep it on the dusted worktop and start patting it.Keep rotating the roti while patting. Add more dry flour if it's sticking to the board. 


Pat it and beat it with the help of your palm until a round roti is made. Keep joining the edges that break while patting. 

Lift the roti very carefully and put it on the hot griddle, dip a small muslin cloth in cold water and wipe the surface of roti (apply water all over). When the water dries up on top flip it and cook on the other side. Flip again and press with a dry cloth, it will puff up when you press, this is to ensure its cooked well. Serve hot with the curry.  

 
 

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Paneer do pyaza with capsicum | Cottage Cheese with Onions & Capsicum

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Paneer do pyaza is another Indian curry with rich flavors of cottage cheese, onions and other Indian spices. There is double the quantity of onions used in this gravy, one is sliced/chopped and fried to golden brown that almost melts in the gravy while the other is slightly cooked crunchy onion cubes, hence the name do pyaza (Do is two and Pyaza is Onions).

Paneer has a milky flavor that tastes heavenly when cooked with flavorful Indian masalas. I have added green capsicum for color and peppery taste but it's completely optional. I served this spicy paneer with Garlic Nan, it also goes well with plain roti or chapathi or even as a side dish with flavored rice. Please read on for the recipe.

Ingredients:

Paneer (cottage cheese) : 3 large cups

Sliced medium Onion: 2

Cubed onions: 2-3

Cumin seeds: 1 tsp

Ginger garlic paste: 1 tbsp

Sliced green chillies: 2

Tomato : 2

Capsicum : 1 (optional)

Turmeric: 1/4 tsp

Coriander powder: 1 tbsp

Red chilli powder: 1 tsp

Salt to taste 

Oil: 2 tbsp

Chopped Coriander leaves: 2 tbsp

Method:

1. Heat oil in a deep pan and add cumin seeds, when they splutter add thinly sliced onion and sauté it.

2. While the onions are cooking grind chopped tomatoes and 1/4 capsicum in a mixer to a coarse paste and keep aside.

3. When the onions turn golden brown in color, mix in turmeric powder and ginger garlic paste and sauté until the raw smell disappears.

4. Add slit green chillies and sauté for a while.

5. Now mix in salt, red chilli powder and coriander powder and mix well. Add a little water if the masala is sticking to the pan.

6. Next add ground tomato paste and cook until the oil separates. Add capsicum pieces and cook for 2-3 minutes. Adjust the consistency by adding a little water.

7. Add crushed kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves) and mix well. 

8. Mix in cubed onions and paneer and cook for 2-3 minutes. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with your choice of Indian flat bread.

Variations: 

1. For a creamier version add 2 tbsp of fresh cream just before turning it off.

2. Or add 1 tbsp of powdered fried cashew for a thicker gravy.

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Andhra Chilli Chicken | Bangalore Restaurant Style Chilli Chicken

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Do you like spicy food? Spicy as in really spicy that will bring tears in your eyes and turn your face red yet you will be relishing the dish.. If you can relate to it then this is the dish for you..:) Go ahead and try this super tasty and fiery hot Andhra chilli chicken - Restaurant style :-)

Andhra chilli chicken is a famous chicken dish from Andhra Style restaurants in Bangalore. This is a fiery hot dish with a lot of green chillies. If you have eaten this in Nandini or Nagarjuna residency in Bangalore you will be able to relate to the spiciness of this dish. After many iterations I have come up with with this recipe, the taste is very close to restaurant style chilli chicken. 

I add fried onion and long non spicy variety chillies that gives a nice flavor to the dish. You can either replace long chillies with regular chillies or skip it completely.

Ingredients:

Chicken: 1 kg

Sliced Onion: 3

Non spicy variety green chillies: 8-10

Spicy green chillies :8-10

Coriander leaves: 1 big cup

Mint: 1 big cup

Ginger garlic paste: 2 tbsp

Lemon juice: 1 big lemon

Corn flour: 2 tbsp

Turmeric: 1 tsp

Crushed black pepper: 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Oil: 3 tbsp

Method: 

1. Grind coriander leaves, mint leaves, ginger garlic paste and spicy green chillies to a coarse paste in a blender.

2. Add salt, corn flour and lemon juice to the ground paste and marinate the cleaned chicken for 2 hours.

3. Heat oil in a wok and fry non spicy variety chillies and remove and keep aside.

4. Fry sliced onion in the same oil until golden brown and remove.

5. Fry marinated chicken in the remaining oil until the raw smell disappears (about 10 mins)

6. Add a cup of water, cover and cook for 10-15 mins or until the chicken is cooked.

7. Add fried chillies and onions and mix well, sauté on high flame for 5 mins.

8. Sprinkle crushed black pepper and a little more lemon juice for extra tanginess and turn off the flame.

Fiery hot andhra chilli chicken is ready to serve. 

Notes:

1. Original dish is very spicy but you can reduce or increase the number of chillies as per your taste.

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Kori Pulimunchi | Chicken Pulimunchi | Chicken in Tangy Spicy Sauce

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Kori Pulimunchi is a traditional dish famous in Tulunadu (Udupi/Mangalore). The name says it all that this dish stands for :-) Kori = Chicken, Puli = Tamarind(sour), Munchi = chilli so it's chicken in tangy, spicy gravy. It tastes great with neer dose, idli or aapam.

Recipe Type: Nonveg | Main dish

Prep time: 20 mins | Cooking time: 25 mins.

Ingredients:
Chicken: 500 gms cut into medium pieces.
Dry red chillies: 10
Coriander seeds: 1 tbsp
Cumin seeds: 1/2 tbsp
Fenugreek seeds:1/4 tsp
Black pepper :1 tsp
Garlic : 7-8 cloves
Turmeric: 1/2 tsp
Tamarind: 1 marble size
Kokam Skin /Punarpuli : 2 (Optional)
Chakke: 1 small piece (optional)
Lavanga: 1-2 (optional)
Coconut : 1 tbsp (optional)
Medium sized onion: 3
Curry Leaves: 2 sprig
Ghee: 1 tbsp
Oil: 2 tbsp

Method:

1. Wash and clean chicken and apply some salt, turmeric powder and a little ghee and keep it aside.

2. Dry roast coriander seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds and pepper. Roast red chillies with a little oil and roast coconut until its golden brown in color.

3. Add tamarind, kokam skin, garlic and a little water to the roasted ingredients and grind to a smooth paste in a mixer.

4. Finely chop onions, keep 2-3 tbsp of onion separately for tempering later.

5. Heat oil in a deep pan and add the remaining onions and saute until its golden brown in color.

6. Add chicken pieces and fry for 4-5 minutes.

7. Next mix in the ground paste, salt and 1/2 cup water and cook it on medium flame until the gravy thickens and chicken is cooked completely. Adjust water to get the desired consistency of the gravy.

8. Heat ghee in a small pan and add curry leaves and 3 tbsp of onions that we had kept separately and saute until the onions turn brown.

9. Add this tempering to the chicken, close the lid and cook for a minute and turn off the flame.

10. Serve the delicious Kori pulimunchi with neer dose, dose, aapam or rice. It goes well with chapathi also.

Notes:
1. Adjust the amount of tamarind if you are not adding punarpuli/kokam peel (Mangosteen peel).
2. Coconut is optional but it gives a little substance to the gravy.
3. I like to keep it a bit dry to go with dose, if you are serving with rice you can add more water or coconut milk and make more gravy.

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Agasi Chutney | Flax Seeds Chutney Powder

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Flax Seeds or Agasi (Kannada) Chutney is made with Flax seeds which is a very good source of omega 3 fatty acids. So it's known to increase the good cholesterol level. Western countries are just getting to know about the health  benefits of flax seeds and you can find many products that contain flax seeds in super market these days specially brown bread with flax seeds. 

In India, there are many ways of using these super healthy seeds in regular diet. Agasi Chutney is a popular recipe in North Karntaka along with Shenga /Ground Nut Chutney. It takes only abt 15 minutes to prepare it and it can be stored for upto 15-20 days in airtight container.

You can include this spicy chutney in your diet in various ways, it tastes great when mixed with curd and can be eaten with Chapathi or Jawar Rotti.

Ingredients: 
Agasi /Flax Seeds : 1 Cup
Red Chilli Powder : 1 Tbsp
Curry Leaves: 1 sprig
Turmeric : 1/4 tsp
Tamarind : 1 small marble size
Sugar: 1/2 tsp
Garlic : 3-4 cloves
Salt to taste

Method:
1. Heat a deep pan and roast flax seeds on low heat until the seeds turn aromatic. It will splutter a lot, so it's good to use a deep pot for roasting the seeds.

2. Cool down the roasted seeds a bit and grind with all other ingredients to a coarse powder. Store it in an airtight jar. It can be used for 15-20 days at room temperature.

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Aloo Gosht | Mutton Chops and Potato Stew

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Aloo Gosht or Mutton Chops cooked with potato chunks is a recipe from India/Pakistan region but the recipe I follow is from a Chinese friend. He used to bring all the ingredients home and make this amazing chops with potato when we had home parties. We used to call it as his signature dish although he didn't have much knowledge of Indian spices or the method of cooking :) It's also my husband's favorite so I tried to replicate it with slight variation and it was an instant hit at home. My in laws totally loved it when they visited us. Its kind of become my signature dish too now;-) I make it only when we have guests at home as I don't eat mutton and my husband needs to empty the pot:)

So here is the recipe of Aloo Gosht | Mutton Chops and Potato Stew tried and tasted by my family and friends.

Ingredients:

Mutton chops : 500  gms
Medium size Potato : 3 
Curd : 1 cup
Curry powder: 1.5 tbsp
Turmeric: 1/2 tsp
Coriander leaves: 1/2 bunch
Curry leaves :4-5 sprigs
Green chillies - 5-6 (adjust to your taste)
Ginger : 1 inche
Garlic :  8-10 cloves
Onion :2 medium
Ghee/clarified butter for cooking: 4 tbsp

Method:
1.  Marinate mutton chops with Salt, curry powder, turmeric powder and yogurt and leave for half an hour.

2. Grind coriander leaves, curry leaves, green chillies, ginger and garlic to a coarse paste and add to the marinated chops and leave it for 3-4 hours.

3. Heat ghee in a deep pan and add chopped garlic and saute for 30 seconds.

4. Add chopped onion and saute until it turns golden brown. 

5. Now add the meat piece by piece. Save the remaining marinade paste.

6. Saute till the meat is tender and the masala paste is almost dried up. It takes abt 30 mins. 

7. Add potato cubes and add the remaining marinade paste. Add 1 cup water and cook without lid for about 10 mins then cover the lid, let it cook in low flame until done. It takes abt 1 hour to cook completely. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with Flavored rice or any Indian Flat bread. 

Curry powder:
You can use any store bought curry powder or make it at home.

Ingredients for curry powder:
Mustard:1/2 tsp
Cumin: 3 tbsp
Coriander seeds: 6 tbsp
Red Chilly : 7-8 (preferably kashmiri/byadagi chillies)
Turmeric: 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves: 4-5 sprigs
Pepper corn: 1 tsp
Fenugreek seeds : few seeds
Bay Leaf: 1
Cinnamon: 2 pieces
Cloves: 4-5
Green Cardamom: 5-6
Garlic: 4-5 cloves 
Dry roast all the ingredients, put it in a blender along with 2 tbsp fried onion and make a slightly coarse powder. Store in an airtight jar. 

Notes:
1. You can replace it with chicken but reduce the cooking time as chicken gets cooked faster. 
2. Add more water if you like to have more gravy/sauce. 

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