Mushroom is available in many types, but most prominent ones are
the button mushroom and oyster mushroom (ilai kaalan). Each type of
mushroom has a unique taste and this oyster mushroom tastes like
country chicken (naatu kozhi) and the curry made using it has an
authentic taste of chicken curry. Vegetarians do not step back on
reading this, you shall feast on this as well. This curry is simple
and gives a nice volume too so that the excess shall be
refrigerated for later use.
I have used onion paste in this but it shall be replaced by just chilli and coriander powder for an instant version. My dad gave me an idea of adding garlic, cumin seeds and whole pepper in this curry, which lends it a unique taste. I strongly recommend to add this, but this is totally optional and the curry tastes fantastic even without that. The oyster mushroom shall be replaced with button mushroom in this curry, but the taste would be entirely different yet equally good.
INGREDIENTS
For the onion paste:
1 cup of pearl onions peeled and slit once vertically
1 tbsp chilli powder (adjust according to taste)
1 1/2 tbsp coriander powder
2 tsps of oil
For the curry:
few curry leaves
1 piece of cinnamon
2 cloves
1 elachi
1 onion chopped
1 tomato chopped
1 inch ginger slightly crushed
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp whole pepper
2 garlic cloves
1 pack of oyster mushroom cleaned and chopped
1/4 cup coconut ground
2 tbsp of oil
few coriander leaves to garnish
Method:
1. Heat oil in a pan and add pearl onions. Saute till they are transperant. Add coriander powder and chilli powder, mix well for a minute till the raw smell fades. Take care not to burn them.
3. Cool the mixture and grind it to a fine paste. Chop onion, tomato and mushroom.
4. Add chopped onions, curry leaves and slightly crushed giner, saute till the raw smell leaves. Add chopped tomatoes and saute for a min. Next add mushroom and mix well.
5. Add turmeric, salt and mix well. Let this cook until mushroom leaves out water.
6. Now add the ground onion paste and enough water. Let this cook for 10 minutes.
7.Meanwhile grind cumin, pepper and garlic using little water.
8. Pour the above paste and boil it for a minute. Cook until the mushroom is cooked enough and curry reach required consistency.
9. Grind coconut with little water to a fine paste and add it to the curry. When it begins to boil, switch off. Coconut may be skipped too if so adjust the chilli powder accordingly.
It pairs extremely well with any tiffin varieties like idli , dosa, chapathi etc., or with just plain rice, jeera rice or briyani.
Notes:
Pearl onions add unique taste to the curry so do not skip them. In the least case use pearl onions for the onion paste and for the curry use big onions, but there will be a difference in taste slightly.
Adding onions as i have mentioned yields a good volume of curry. If you wish you shall reduce them too.
For an instant version skipping the onion paste you may use 2 big onions and 2 tomatoes. Saute them and add just chilli powder and coriander powder, continue the rest as same. This yields a little less volume, but the curry tastes similar.
Oyster mushroom does not get cooked very tender. It tends to be chewy so do not panic.
Thanks for reading the recipe, if you like this recipe please leave a comment below.
