Mushrooms are not the kind of food that I grew with. I can still remember that years back while I was in school,  once my mother prepared a dish with mushroom. Back then as a student I knew it well that mushrooms hail from fungi family, so couldn’t enjoy the dish wholeheartedly.

After coming to Europe, I found mushrooms are quite common as a food and used in various vegetarian and non-vegeterian items. However, I never bought them as I didn’t know how to cook. Then once I happened to taste it at one of my neighbour’s place. She cooked it so well that I immediately fell into love with it and decided to try it myself. Now mushrooms feature quite often in our diet. Gradually I also came to know the health benefits of this low-calorie and low-fat vegetable.

At the beginning while looking for a good recipe with mushrooms I came across with the one called “Kadai Mushroom”. In fact a number of “Kadai Mushroom” recipes are available in youtube, among which I chose that of Nisha Madhulika.  This onion and garlic less recipe reminded me of the authentic Bengali vegetarian dishes which was the main reason to select this recipe. Nonetheless to mention that the end product was immensely satisfactory. Now I often prepare this dish when vegetarian guests visit our place. So give it a try, I bet you will like it. 🙂

Ingredients to serve 2-3 :

1. Button mushroom (brown/white) – 250 gm.
2. Green capsicum/bell pepper  – ½
3. Tomato – 1 (medium size)
4. Green chillies 2-3
5. Ginger – ½” piece
6. Fresh coriander (chopped) – 2 tbspoon heaped + extra for garnishing
7. Cashew nut – 8-10 (soaked into water for 10 minutes)
8. Cumin seed – ½ teaspoon
9. Asafoetida – ¼ teaspoon
10. Turmeric powder – ¼ teaspoon
11. Red chilli powder – ½ teaspoon
12. Coriander powder – 1 teaspoon
13. Dry fenugreek leaves (Kasuri Methi) – 1-2 teaspoon
14. Garam masala powder – ¼ teaspoon
15. Salt to taste
16. Sugar – ½ teaspoon (optional)
17. Cooking oil – 2 tbspoon

Procedure :

Wash and cut the mushrooms into quarters. Also cut the capsicum into medium size squares.

Make a smooth paste with tomato, green chillies, ginger & cashew nuts.

Heat oil in a frying pan or kadai over medium heat. Shallow fry the capsicums into it, remove them from oil and keep them aside.

Now add cumin seeds and asafoetida into the remaining oil. Saute for a while and then add the tomato paste and turmeric powder.

Cook until raw flavour of tomato disappears, then add coriander powder, red chilli powder and dry fenugreek leaves (rub between your palms before adding).

Again cook the mixture well till oil separates from it.

Then add mushroom, fried capsicum, salt, garam masala powder and chopped coriander leaves.

Mix them well and then add little water and sugar. There is no need to add much water as mushroom itself release lot of water.

Cover the pan with a lid and let it cook on low-medium flame.

As mushroom gets cooked and gravy thickens to your desired consistency switch off the flame.

Give it a standing time for couple of minutes then transfer to a serving bowl and garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

Serve with roti or paratha.