Yes the recipe name has au naturale in it, and no you don't have to cook it naked ha-ha, or you can. Your call, really! Why I call it au naturale, is because, the dish is "simple, plain and effective" Ooo that reminded me of Paul Hollywood. Ha-ha. Anyhoo.
So I was really craving for a rich and warm soup, because it has been snowing so much in Boston, and I had some mushrooms in my fridge. My first instinct was the classic creamy mushroom soup, of course, and then, and I will not tell you how, but after a few minutes, my mind was visualizing a plate full of butter paneer. Yes from soup to butter paneer. That happens with me.
I snapped out it, gathered myself, consoled my heart, that I don't have paneer at home, and moved on. I circled back to soup, but then I was so not in the mood for a creamy soup. As much as I love them, they are a bit heavy on your stomach, and all you can taste is the salty and peppered creamy sauce, with bites of mushrooms here and there. I also was not in a mood for the same old Indian curry with sautéed onions and tomatoes.
Then it occurred to me, what is the one big thing that bothers you the most when it comes to cooking mushrooms. That they release a lot of water, right? I thought, why not use this and make a soup or a broth, with mushrooms and the base would be the water released from mushrooms. This is not one of those recipes, where you run away from the water released from mushrooms. I am not going to tell you tricks and tips on how to sauté mushrooms, without letting them release their water. We are in fact going to embrace the beautiful juice released from mushrooms and make a quick and easy and also flavorful dish.
All Aboard? Let's go!
Step 1 : Gather your ingredients
Mushrooms, pfff, obviously - 600 gm
Garlic - 3 cloves
Ginger - a 2 inch root should be good
Indian Green chili - 3 (can vary depending on how much heat you can tolerate)
Onion - take the smallest onion you have, and take only half of it. Yes I used onions but very less.
Avocado oil - 2 tbsp
Powdered Spices
Turmeric Powder - 1+1/2 tsp
Garam Masala - 1+1/2 tsp
Salt - 1+1/2 tsp
Whole spices:-
Black Cardamom - 2
Mace - 1 tsp
Coriander Seeds - 1 tsp (pound them)
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
Dried Red Chili - 1 (Can skip)
Chop ginger, garlic, onion and green chilies very finely.
Step 2 : Now depending on how you like the shape of your mushrooms, and how big the mushrooms are, you can chop them accordingly. I personally like big chunks of it, so I just chopped each big piece of mushroom into fours.
Step 3 : Now since we are on a little healthy-eating spree here, take a pot, and put 2 tablespoons of avocado oil. You can use ghee if you have worked out that day. You can also use mustard oil, if you have it. Heat on medium heat. Check if the oil is hot enough by dropping on cumin seed and see if it puffs up and flutters.
Step 4 : Now add the whole spices. Cook them until the nice aroma fills up your kitchen. Make sure the flame is on medium, otherwise the spices will burn.
Step 5: Now add ginger, garlic, green chilies and onions. Sauté them, until the onions are translucent.
Step 6 : Add all the powdered spices and salt, and sauté on medium-low flame to avoid burning them. Sauté this for 2 minutes.
Step 7 : Now add the chopped mushrooms and half a cup of water. Mix well.
Step 8 : Now with the flame on medium low, cover the pot, leave your kitchen and watch one episode(23 minutes) of Friends.
Step 9 : After one episode is over, come over to the kitchen and lift the lid and watch how much water mushrooms have released. Stir the dish once, put the lid back on, and go back and watch another episode(23 minutes).
Step 10 : After the second episode is over, you will see that the mushrooms have become soft and there is a lot of broth in the pot now. It is done now !
Step 11 : Make some boondi raita. If you don't have the ingredients, then just take some curd in a bowl and add little bit of salt and pepper. We realized that eating curd with this dish really brightened up the whole experience, so do eat some curd with it.
You can eat this dish on its own, or with some bread or roti. As you can see, I made some rotis. Now, while making the dish I thought of adding some fresh cream or curd, but without the base of onions and tomatoes, the curd or cream would have curdled in that hot mushroom broth. So I avoided it. However eating some curd along the dish, really enlivened the whole meal.
Hope you enjoy it too!
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