Chatpate Mushroom

Chatpate Mushroom

This dish is exactly as it sounds. Chatpate Mushrooms. Tangy, spicy and tasty!!

I have used tinned mushrooms here which take less time to cook. If you are using fresh button mushrooms then you will have to spend some extra time cooking them.

 For this dish I feel that the tinned ones are the best. Fresh mushrooms are great for making stuffed ones. Since the tinned mushrooms are already steeped in brine the saltiness is constant in the mushrooms. 

This dish makes a good, easy and quick snacks. So whip out your tin of mushrooms and make this chatpata dish!!

Ingredients

1 tin button mushrooms

½ cup hung curd

1 tsp garam masala

1 tsp red chilli powder

1 tsp chicken masala

Salt to taste

Drain the mushrooms and marinate them in the rest of the ingredients for at least half an hour. The more you marinate the better they will taste.

Now you have an option of either grilling them or making them in a pan.

If you want to grill them then preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Then bake for about 10-15 minutes.

If you are making them in a pan then put a pan on heat and add a tablespoon of oil. Cook the mushrooms till the masalas are dry.

Baked Bharwan Mushroom

Baked Bharwan Mushroom

In India we commonly get the white button mushrooms. And that too has been available in the last 10 years or so. Before that only the gourmet vegetable shops used to keep mushrooms. I remember going to INA market in Delhi specially to get the mushrooms.

Then there started a wave of mushroom cultivation. It takes a little bit of knowledge and expertise and anyone can do mushroom farming. So these white beauties became readily available in the smallest of veg shops. They are also available in the timed form.

I add mushrooms to pizzas, pasta, chowmein. They are great roasted or grilled. And they make a delicious curry. This Grilled Bharwan recipe is pretty simple. And you need only 2-3 ingredients. I have made a non veg version using sausages. You can replace them with paneer.

Ingredients

200 gms fresh button mushrooms

3-4 sausages

½ cup mozzarella cheese

Salt to taste

Wash the mushrooms really well. Rinse them at least thrice.

Chop of the stems of the mushrooms. Scoop out the insides of the mushrooms. 

Now chop all these portions very fine.

 Chop the sausages very fine. Heat some oil.

 Add the chopped mushroom portions. Saute on high heat till they wilt. 

Add the sausages and saute. Add a little salt for seasoning. Apply some oil to the button mushrooms.

 Stuff the sausage filling inside. Sprinkle some grated cheese on top. 

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Bake the mushrooms for 10 minutes. 

Eat them hot.

Winter Vegetables in Coconut Milk Broth

Winter Vegetables in Coconut Milk Broth

I realized something today!
I write only when I am melancholy. I can't write when I am happy!
Due to circumstances beyond my control I will be spending this holi away from my husband. Over a span of fifteen years of a blissful married life it has become very common to not be together during anniversaries and birthdays. However those are personal celebrations and somehow I don’t feel the pinch. We celebrate when we are together. But a communal celebration such as festivals make you feel very lonely. And it is true when they say that you are loneliest in a crowd. You are never lonely alone. Contradictory I know..but that is the truth!
I don’t know whether distance makes the heart grow fonder or not but it certainly gives you perspective. It makes you realize that you are not always thankful for that most precious thing in life..time with your loved ones. 
Little late in the day (coz it is already March) for a new year resolution but I do promise to be thankful for the time I get to spend with my family. 
You might wonder what brought about this bout of melancholy!
It is raining (my absolutely favourite weather) and I am alone, I am down with flu ( damn this time of year in Delhi) and I miss my hubby!! Enough reasons!
The big dilemma was what to cook. It has to be something nutritious because I need my strength. It has to be something non fussy and light because I am still not out of the grips of the bug. And it has to be something tasty enough to make me feel like eating.
The idea for this dish came from a lime shrub in my mom’s garden. In a concrete jungle like Delhi my mom, who is an avid gardener, is struggling to maintain a strip of greenery. Apart from all the flower pots she has a banana plane, a pumpkin patch and a lime shrub. This shrub is now full of little blossoms and baby green leaves. 

I wanted to use that flavour in my food. The dish was inspired by the Thai green curry. However I have kept it very simple with easy-to-get ingredients. There were only two points on my agenda. First, add as many winter veggies as possible. And Secondly, infuse the lime flavour. 

Ingredients

2 carrots, cut into fingers
100 gm French beans, cut
1 packet mushrooms
1 bell pepper
100 gms baby corn
200 gm paneer, cubed
Handful of lime leaves
some ginger, cut into juliennes
2-3 green chillies
100 ml coconut milk
1 tbsp cumin powder
1 tbsp coriander powder
½ tsp turmeric powder
 1 tsp garam masala powder
 1 ½ tsp salt
Pinch of sugar
Juice of ½ lime

Cut and wash all the vegetables. 

Heat some oil. Sauté the French beans, carrots and baby corn because they take longer to cook. Remember you have to keep them crunchy. So sauté for a few minutes only. 
Add the mushrooms, bell pepper and paneer. Sauté on high flame for a minute. 
Add the cumin powder, coriander powder, garam masala powder, turmeric powder, salt and sugar, toss for a minute and then add the coconut milk, lime leaves, ginger and green chillies. 
Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for five minutes. Switch off the heat and add the lime juice. 

Stuffed Mushrooms

Stuffed Mushrooms

I am enjoying my second childhood. No I am not having juvenile episodes nor am I throwing childish tantrums. 

As a child we have only one task and that is to study. That seems to be the hardest thing to do. We look at our parents and elders and imagine they have it so much easier. Each and every child cant wait to grow up because that would mean an end to endless studies and then like grownups we will have a cool and easy life. HAAH!! This is life’s greatest irony. 

We look back at those childish desire and give a wry smile. Now we wish to go back to that carefree, responsibility-free life of luxury where the only thing we had to do was study. Now juggling work, house and kids, surviving maid problems, rude neighbors, traffic, pollution, population, crime, we wonder why we ever grew up!

Coming back to my second childhood. I sit with my son when he studies and I am enjoying the textbooks like I never did when I was his age. Teaching him, explaining things, making him inquire and explore I realise I am enjoying every moment of it. 

When I am teaching him about the structure of leaves and flowers we spend an hour in the garden and kitchen garden exploring the varieties of flora and fauna. We sit under the night sky and try to identify stars and constellations. And all the while I keep wishing that I could be a child again and learn these things again and this time take more pleasure in the whole process.

This post is becoming more like a Dear Diary entry. 

Today’s chapter was about Microorganisms. We came to the topic of Fungi and he was mighty curious to know how we can eat a fungus. Explaining the concept of good fungus and bad fungus was not enough. So off we went to the market and bought a packet of pearly white button mushrooms. 

So this post is dedicated to studies and mushroom.

Ingredients

1 packet button mushrooms

1 small onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves, chopped

½ cup cheese, grated ( I have used 2 slices chicken salami)

For sealing the mushrooms

4 tbsp maida

2 tbsp cornflour

For the batter

¾ cup maida

½ cup cornflour

1 tsp tomato ketchup

½ tsp soya sauce

Salt to taste

Wash the mushrooms well. Now cut out their stems and with the help of a knife gently scoop out the center. Be gentle or the mushroom may break. 

When you have taken out the centers from all the mushrooms then chop those mushrooms bits. Keep the whole mushrooms aside.

Heat some oil. Add the chopped garlic and onion. Saute for some time and then add the chopped mushroom. Fry and add grated paneer or chopped salami, whichever you are using. Season according to taste.

 Now stuff the filling in the mushrooms. Keep it level and don’t overfill otherwise while frying the filling will seep out.

Make a thick paste of 4 tbsp maida and 2 tbsp cornflour. Starting from the sides slowly cover the fillings so that they remain sealed inside the mushroom. 

Make a batter of maida, cornflour, tomato ketchup, soya sauce and salt. Dip the mushrooms in the batter and deep fry. 

P.S I bought two packets of mushrooms, one for myself and one for my son. This snack is from “his” pack.  Now I have to think of something to make from “my” pack.

 

Khoya mushroom

Khoya mushroom

Mushrooms enveloped in the creamy seduction of khoya..an unusual combination but one that totally works.

Ingredients

2 cup green peas, boiled

300 gms mushrooms, sliced

100 gms khoya

¼ cup cashews

¼ cup curd

1 tsp turmeric powder

 2 tsp Kashmiri reed chili powder

1 tbsp coriander powder

1 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp garam masala

Pinch of sugar

Salt to taste

Make a paste of

2 onions

2 tomatoes

5 garlic pods

Small piece of ginger

Make the paste using a little water if required.

Heat some oil. Fry the paste till the water evaporates. 

Add the spices, khoya, salt and sugar. Sauté well till the khoya is well mixed. 

Now add the mushrooms and peas. Sauté till the masala coats the mushrooms evenly. 

Add some water and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for about ten minutes. Garnish with some chopped coriander leaves.