Chettinadu Mushroom Masala

Mushrooms are my husband's favourite. There are times when we head out to a restaurant, he orders something that mushrooms in them. That is the amount of love between him and mushrooms. 

I make it a point that I buy mushrooms once a week and cook them for Sri (my husband). Sometimes, it a pulao or sometimes it a basic musroom masala. But when I bought them now, I wanted to make something that was different and yet tasty.

So went on google and did a lot of searching and landed on this beautiful recipe called Cheetinady Kaalaan Masala/ Chettinadu Mushroom Masala. It has a big list of ingredients, but the process is really easy and simple. The final dish came out spicy and lip smacking. 

There are certain additions and variations that I've made from the original recipe, simple because I don't know whether they are available here in Pune.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Serves: 4
Adaptation. www.spiceindiaonline.com

What would you need:

1. Mushrooms - 250 grams (sliced length wise)
2. Small Onions/ shallots - 10 nos (peeled)
3. Tomato - 2 (chopped finely)
4. Garlic - 5 cloves (chopped)
5. Ginger - 2' piece (chopped)
6. Curry leaves - a handful
7. Bayleaf - 2 nos
8. Oil - 2 tbsp
9. Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
10. Salt - to taste
11. Coriander leaves - to garnish (finely chopped)

To dry roast & grind:

1. Grated coconut - 2 tbsp (you could even use dessicated coconut)
2. Cloves - 2
3. Cardamom - 1
4. Pepper - 1/2 tsp
5. Dry red chillies - 2 to 3 (I used bedgi chillies)
6. Poppy seeds / khus khus - 1/2 tsp
7. Roasted gram dal/ chutney dal/ udaitha kadalai - 1 tsp
8. Cumin seeds / jeera - 1/2 tsp
9. Coriander seeds - 1 tsp
10. Fennel seeds/ Saunf - 1 tsp

How to go about it:

1. In a dry pan, add all the ingredients listed under to dry roast. Roast them until aromatic, cool them and grind it to a fine powder. If you are using dessicated coconut, do  not roast it. Just directly grind it along with the roasted spices.
2. In the same pan, add oil. Once the oil is hot, add the bay leaf, garlic, ginger and curry leaves. Sauté for about 2 minutes. 
3. Add the shallots and fry until they turn soft and brown on sides. Now add the mushrooms and fry. You will observe that the mushrooms start to leave moisture. Fry the mixture for about 5 minutes.
4. Tip in the chopped tomatoes and fry for about 5 minutes. At this time add the ground masala, salt and turmeric powder. 
5. You will now see the entire mixtures turns dry. Add water to adjust the consistency of your choice and let the entire content bubble up for about 10 minutes.
6. Finally, add the coriander leaves. Mix everything together and serve hot with phulkas, chappathis or kal dosa.

Njoy with your loved ones...

Luv..

Champa