Sunday, February 20, 2011

Cashew-Mushroom Masala

A delicious side-dish to phulkas or rotis, this gravy also went well with rice ! What makes this dish extra special is that instead of using the store bought powder for the masala, i dry roasted the spices and roughly crushed them with mortar-pestle; It gave a rustic texture and an earthy taste to the dish !
You will agree that the addition of mushroom lends a certain exoticness to the everyday cooking !!




What Goes:-


For the Masala - (adjust the quantities as required)

  • Black Peppercorns - 1 tbsp
  • Cardamom - 2 to 3 pods
  • Mace - 1/2 tsp
  • Bay Leaves - 2
  • Cloves - 2 to 3
  • Fennel Seeds - 1 tbsp
  • Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
  • Cinnamon - a small piece
For the Gravy:-
  • Button Mushrooms - 150 gm
  • Cashewnuts - fistful - as required
  • Onion - 2 (large) - pureed
  • Garlic - 3 pods ( diced)
  • Tomato - 1 to 2 (chopped)
  • Green Chillis - 3 (slit diagonally) - to taste
  • Red Chilli Powder - 1 tsp - to taste/optional
  • Oil - for frying cashews
  • Butter - 1 tbsp
  • Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
  • Coriander Powder - 1/2 tsp
  • Salt - to taste
How:_

The ingredients are assembled and put to work--



Dry roast the ingredients for the masala and roughly grind it using mortar pestle 



Wash the mushrooms well with hot water and keep them soaked so they don't lose colour. Slice them if you want ! 


In a pan with hot oil, fry the cashewnuts till golden brown and set aside--


In a kadai add butter and as it heats up let the sliced garlic turn golden brown (the aroma wafting from the kitchen is heavenly). Now add the green chillis and pureed onions- sautee for some time !


Add the other spices for the gravy like red chilli powder, turmeric powder and the coriander powder. Blend the mix well. Now add the roughly crushed masala and stir fry till the rawness of the spices evaporates. Add little water if the mix becomes too dry !!


Now add the chopped tomatoes and cook well. Drop in the fried cashews and stir fry for a few minutes !



Just before adding the mushrooms add salt to taste. You can deep fry the mushrooms if you want before adding them to the gravy; it made the gravy a little richer (i did it because the oil from frying the cashews was still hot)

Mix well and garnish with coriander leaves

The cashew-mushroom masala is ready to be enjoyed with rotis or rice !

Sending it to Nivedita's Only Original recipes , event announcement by Pari


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Sending it to Cooking with Whole Food- Tomato by Sanyuktha event announcement by Kiran


Also to Saraswathi's Healing Food: Ginger- Garlic event announcement by Siri


20 comments:

  1. Lovely lovely dish... I can see how tasty it is....
    Reva

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  2. the dish looks very rich and creamy and temptingly delicious too.

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  3. wow what a yummy mushroom gravy... love it...

    Dish Name Starts with F
    Learning-to-cook
    Regards,
    Akila

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  4. Awesome...Looks so tempting.,..Thanks for sharing

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  5. bookmarked priya...lovely muhroom gravy.very apt for rotis

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  6. Awesome! Pass that plate to me please!

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  7. Looks fabulous,perfect mushroom masala.

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  8. Definitely a rich and delicious masala, inviting..

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  9. Hi Priya

    The masala looks so yummy and rich. Would love to indulge in it.

    Deepa
    Hamaree Rasoi

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  10. mushroom with cashew sounds great :)
    www.kankanasaxena.com

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  11. Yes the masala looks so yum and rich as Deepa said.I have never had mushroom curry like this before so I am waiting to try it out soon.

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  12. This gravy must be spicy, aromatic and yummy!! Mushrooms are my favourite and cashews are my DH's favourite. So, bookmarking this recipe :-)

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  13. This looks very delicious..And has such terrific flavours..
    Tasty appetite

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  14. Hi Priya, Mushrooms and cashews together sound like the perfect comination. Can't wait to try it :)

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  15. lovely dish!...perfect side dish!
    Smitha
    http://smithasspicyflavors.blogspot.com/

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