Mushroom peas yogurt curry

(Caution to my squeamish readers: Disgusting imagery alert! Read from Para 4 if you have a weak stomach.)
Although I quite like mushrooms, I’m not really crazy about them – I think it’s to do with their texture. I love mushroom soup, because it has the flavour without the texture. I absolutely cannot stand mushrooms in a cold curry because to me they taste like floppy rubber bands, and look like something that died but inexplicably didn’t get a decent burial.
Hm. After that appetizing description, I have no doubt that non-mushroom eaters will be rushing en masse to try the delights of cold cooked mushrooms for themselves. Oh well… I figure that people who dislike mushrooms will continue to dislike them (and perhaps agree with me) and those who love ‘em will continue to love ‘em no matter what I say. (It’s what I call a win-win situation for my writing skills.)

Anyway, it’s been a looooooong time since I cooked with mushrooms last, mainly because the low-fat yogurt I’d used curdled in the sauce to rather gross effect – in fact, binge-drinkers outside nightclubs on a Friday night could not have reproduced anything worse-looking. The effect, basically, was to make me shy away from putting yogurt anywhere near boiling sauce that contained mushrooms.
As I learnt from my disastrous episode with heating very low-fat yogurt, it’s best to use full-fat or regular yogurt, or at worst 2%, if you’re planning to cook with it. Otherwise, reheating leftovers could pose the same problems as heating while cooking.

The Greek yogurt I used was a branded one which I had been asked to try out, and although I’d been assured that the 2% yogurt would not curdle, I must admit I was a bit nervous when adding it to the hot sauce. But it was no lie, the yogurt didn’t “turn” and the finished dish was deeelish, thankfully dislodging the images that had attached themselves to my inner eye after the previous experience.

Recipe for: Mushroom peas yogurt curry


Ingredients:



3 cups baby button mushrooms, halved
1 cup frozen petit pois
1/2 cup thick Greek yogurt (I used Total Greek yogurt)
3/4 tsp whole black peppercorns
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1/2 cup thinly sliced onions
1/2 cup thick pureed tomatoes (I also used a few baby cherry tomatoes)
1 tsp grated ginger root
1/4 tsp garam masala
2 tsp oil
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves for garnish
Method:

1. Pound the black peppercorns, coriander seeds and cumin seeds to powder in a mortar and pestle.


2. Heat the oil, add the masala powder and let fry for 15 seconds, then add the grated ginger.


3. Throw in the sliced onions and mix well. Skip Step 4 if you are not using cherry tomatoes.


4. When the onions start softening, add the halved cherry tomatoes (if using).

Cook until the tomatoes are mushy.



5. When the onions are soft, pour in the tomato puree and add the garam masala, then add 1/2 cup water.


6. Let it simmer for 3-4 minutes, then add the mushrooms.

Let the mushrooms cook for 3-4 minutes until they release their liquid and shrink in size.

7. Now add the frozen petit pois and mix them in.


8. Cover the pan and let the mixture simmer for 5 minutes. If the gravy is watery, boil it on high for 2-3 minutes. When the gravy has reduced to your liking, add the Greek yogurt.


9. Add salt to taste and stir in the Greek yogurt. Let the curry simmer for another 3-4 minutes, then turn off the heat.


10. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with plain rice or as a side dish for pulao and biriyani.


RECIPE: MUSHROOM PEAS YOGURT CURRY

Ingredients:
3 cups baby button mushrooms, halved
1 cup frozen petit pois
1/2 cup thick Greek yogurt (I used Total Greek yogurt)
3/4 tsp whole black peppercorns
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1/2 cup thinly sliced onions
1/2 cup thick pureed tomatoes (I also used a few baby cherry tomatoes)
1 tsp grated ginger root
1/4 tsp garam masala
2 tsp oil
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves for garnish

Method:
1. Pound the black peppercorns, coriander seeds and cumin seeds to powder in a mortar and pestle.
2. Heat the oil, add the masala powder and let fry for 15 seconds, then add the grated ginger.
3. Throw in the sliced onions and mix well. Skip Step 4 if you are not using cherry tomatoes.
4. When the onions start softening, add the halved cherry tomatoes (if using). Cook until the tomatoes are mushy.
5. When the onions are soft, pour in the tomato puree and add the garam masala, then add 1/2 cup water.
6. Let it simmer for 3-4 minutes, then add the mushrooms. Let the mushrooms cook for 3-4 minutes until they release their liquid and shrink in size.
7. Now add the frozen petit pois and mix them in.
8. Cover the pan and let the mixture simmer for 5 minutes. If the gravy is watery, boil it on high for 2-3 minutes. When the gravy has reduced to your liking, add the Greek yogurt.
9. Add salt to taste and stir in the Greek yogurt. Let the curry simmer for another 3-4 minutes, then turn off the heat. Let the curry sit covered for 5 minutes.
10. Then garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with plain rice or as a side dish for pulao and biriyani.

Vegetable curry

This is what I call an "all-purpose" recipe because you can use whatever vegetables you have to hand. It's especially good for using up the odds-and-ends. The only reason I use the generic term "curry" is because it's not a kootu or anything specifically South Indian, and it is not quite proper North Indian because I used "curry powder" as a flavouring.

I know - gasp! What was I thinking, using store-bought "curry powder"? Me, who used to be authentically Indian and looked down my nose (only a short distance, given that my nose is regrettably lacking in ski-slope proportions) at any recipe that involved the use of "curry powder" especially with the words "mild Madras" preceding the term. Me, who used to be mildly scornful and pitying of the uninformed Brits who relied on curry powders to make their "Indian" curries. That me, now admitting without any apparent embarrassment to having "gone over" to the British side of Indian curries? WTF?

Actually, after years and years of using readymade garam masala powder in various dishes and not thinking twice about it being a store-bought item, I finally came around to admitting that "curry powder" was pretty much the same sort of thing.

However, I do still look down my sadly length-challenged nose at people who use curry powder as the sole flavouring for their versions of curries. My superiority imaginary superiority in the matter of "authentic" recipes is maintained quite satisfactorily (from my point of view, naturally) because I used "mild Madras curry powder" mainly to provide the "authentic British" flavour to this curry. I do not, I hasten to add, use it all the time.

There, that should pretty much re-establish my credentials. And if it doesn't, here's a gentle reminder - I am now, as my husband chooses to describe, a "Brindian", not an Indian...

Recipe for: Basic vegetable curry

Ingredients:

2-3 small new potatoes, sliced into 1/2-cm thick rounds
1 carrot, peeled and sliced into 1/2-cm thick rounds
1/3 cup fresh or frozen green peas

2 small onions, sliced
1/2 cup green beans, sliced 1" long
2 cups baby spinach leaves
1/2 cup roasted tomatoes OR 1 cup tomato puree + 1 tbsp concentrated tomato paste
1-2 small cloves garlic, chopped fine
1/2" piece ginger root, peeled and grated
1 tsp cumin seeds
salt to taste
2 tsp oil
1/2 tbsp mild Madras curry powder
Coriander leaves for garnish

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a wide pan, add the cumin seeds and garlic, and fry on medium-low heat until the garlic softens (about 30 seconds).


2. Then stir in the sliced onions, grated ginger and turmeric powder and fry till the onions become limp and turn translucent.


3. Add the sliced potatoes, carrots, green beans and green peas along with 2 cups water and the curry powder.

Bring it to a boil on high heat, then turn the heat down to medium and let the vegetables cook for 7-8 minutes.

4. Then add the roasted tomatoes.

If you're using uncooked pureed tomatoes, turn the heat back up to high after adding the puree + concentrated paste, and let the liquid reduce by half.

5. Let the mixture simmer till the vegetables are fully cooked. Now add the spinach leaves.

Turn the heat down to low and cover the pan for 3-4 minutes or till the spinach is wilted. Add salt to taste, stir it in well. Leave the curry on the hob for a few minutes more, if the gravy is not thick enough for you.

Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with plain rice, any Indian pickle and papad.

RECIPE: VEGETABLE CURRY

Ingredients
2-3 small new potatoes, sliced into 1/2-cm thick rounds
1 carrot, peeled and sliced into 1/2-cm thick rounds
1/3 cup fresh or frozen green peas
2 small onions, sliced
1/2 cup green beans, sliced 1" long
2 cups baby spinach leaves
1/2 cup roasted tomatoes OR 1 cup tomato puree + 1 tbsp concentrated tomato paste
1 tsp cumin seeds
1-2 small cloves garlic, chopped fine
1/2" piece ginger root, peeled and grated
salt to taste
2 tsp oil
1/2 tbsp mild curry powder
Coriander leaves for garnish

Method
1. Heat the oil in a wide pan, add the cumin seeds and garlic, and fry on medium-low heat until the garlic softens (about 30 seconds).
2. Then stir in the sliced onions, grated ginger and turmeric powder and fry till the onions become limp and turn translucent.
3. Add the sliced potatoes, carrots green beans and green peas along with 2 cups water and the curry powder. Bring it to a boil on high heat, then turn the heat down to medium and let the vegetables cook for 7-8 minutes.
4. Then add the roasted tomatoes. If you're using uncooked pureed tomatoes, turn the heat back up to high after adding the puree + concentrated paste, and let the liquid reduce by half.
5. Let the mixture simmer till the vegetables are fully cooked. Now add the spinach leaves. Turn the heat down to low and cover the pan for 3-4 minutes or till the spinach is wilted. Add salt to taste, stir it in well. Leave the curry on the hob for a few minutes more, if the gravy is not thick enough for you. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with plain rice, any Indian pickle and papad.

Eggs and peas in tomato-cashewnut gravy

Some days, when I'm very nearly out of ideas as to what to make for dinner for the two of us, and when that coincides with not having very much in the fridge to work with and I'm staring around the kitchen looking for inspiration, I'm always happily relieved when the cardboard box of eggs eventually comes into focus (I'm very capable of looking straight at something without seeing it, much to Pete's amusement or irritation, depending on his mood).

Eggs aren't the first thing that come to my mind in a culinary fix, simply because I'm not used to thinking of them as actual food. I mean, of course I use them, but usually in cakes. It's a rare thing for me to cook eggs for a meal - especially my meal. So when I suddenly remember them, it's always with a sense of pleased relief ("How clever of me to remember the eggs!") . Because once they're boiled, eggs are ready to be thrown - not literally, unless cleaning the hob and your clothes is your hobby - into any sauce you wish to conjure up.

And that is what I did recently.

Recipe for: Eggs in tomato-cashewnut gravy



Ingredients:

4-6 eggs, hard boiled and shelled
10 cashewnuts
1 tsp ginger, grated
2 small onions, sliced



1/2 cup frozen green peas
1 cup smooth sieved tomatoes (I used readymade thick tomato pulp)
1-1/2 cups milk (I used semi-skim)
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 htbsp kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
1 tsp red chilli powder (optional, as per taste)
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
4 tsp oil
salt to taste

chopped coriander leaves for garnish


Method:

1. Heat two tsp oil in a small pan, add the ginger, cumin seeds and cashewnuts and fry them till the cashew nuts turn a light brown.



2. Add the sliced onions and cook till they begin to turn soft.



3. Add 1/2 cup milk and cook till the onions are done. Cool, then grind to a thick paste.



4. In another pan, heat the remaining oil and add the turmeric powder. Add the boiled eggs



and fry them, turning them gently every now and then, till the eggs are slightly blistered all over. Remove the eggs from the pan and set aside till required.



5. In the same pan, add the tomato pulp.



6. Add the kasoori methi and the red chilli powder (if using) to the pulp and let it cook for 2-3 minutes.



7. Now add the frozen peas along with 1/2 cup water,



and cook them covered till done.



8. Now pour in 1 cup milk along with the onion-cashewnut paste and mix it in well. Add salt to taste. Let the gravy simmer for 5-7 minutes till it thickens to the consistency you like.



9. Add the reserved eggs (I made four vertical slits in the eggs) to the gravy and simmer for a few more minutes, spooning the sauce over the eggs.



10. Sprinkle the coriander leaves over, and serve hot with rotis or rice.

Sesame soyabean pulao

Sometimes what you think is a brilliantly innovative idea turns out to be somewhat less than that. Even if not a total flop, the idea certainly isn’t close to what was visualised. For instance - I recently bought a pack of Lapsang Souchong tea (no, that was not the innovative part, that was just what I thought was the brilliant part. Wait for it, people, wait for it. The point will make its grand debut further down this post. Watch for the trumpet fanfare that will announce its arrival.)

Over the years I’d heard a lot about Lapsang Souchong. It was the name that attracted me first, to tell the truth. Lapsang Souchong. Such a treat for the vocal cords. Lapsang Souchong. Lapsang Souchong. Lapsang Souchong. (It made me feel sophisticated just saying the name.) So anyway, I’d read about how this tea embodied the essence of refinement, how delicately smoky it tasted, how it was loved by the top connoisseurs of tea in general, and so on. In the past I was not drawn to the idea of tea at all, even with milk and sugar – and the idea of drinking tea that had neither milk nor sugar seemed incomprehensible. Not even a genuine tea-connoisseur favourite uncle could tempt me to try drinking tea black.

But of late, since I have been drinking fruit teas and green tea, I thought that my palate ok, that *I* was finally sophisticated enough for this supposed queen of teas. It seemed promising enough when I bought the box because I could smell the smokiness even without opening it.

As I poured hot – not boiling, as specified by the instructions – water on the teabag in my mug, my senses were assailed by the lovely smoky aroma. Alas, the tea itself was rather too bitter for me. Evidently my palate (please note this – my palate, not me) had not reached the level of sophistication required to drink Lapsang Souchong. (Perhaps I should have used a fine bone china cup from which to drink the tea, rather than a Tesco mug that had “Tea Coffee Tea Coffee” printed all over it in striking black and white stripes? Ah well, we will not make this discovery in a hurry, and enquiring readers will just have to wait till I can muster the willpower – and the requisite refinement of the five senses - to try Lapsang Souchong again. From a posh china cup.)

So anyway, the remaining 39 tea bags sat in their box in a drawer, perfuming the air delicately with their smokiness whenever the drawer was opened, for a couple of weeks before I had my next *trumpet fanfare* idea. (Yes, folks, this was Part 2 - the innovative part – of the original brilliant idea.)

I have liked the flavour of smoked food, ever since, years and years back in a Maori village in New Zealand, I tried it for the first time at the traditional “hangi” or feast. (That’s another story, which you can find here.) So I was suddenly struck by the thought that I could use a Lapsang Souchong tea-bag while cooking some soya beans (the dried kind, after first soaking the beans overnight). Two birds with one stone, and all that... I could use up the tea bags eventually, and hopefully the lovely smoked flavour would infuse into the soya beans.

Uh...

That innovative idea? Innovative, perhaps, but sadly not brilliant in its outcome. The smoky taste did NOT get into the beans or the cooking liquid, but the tea did turn the beans a beautiful (NOT!) brownish grey. Overall, I would say that pressure-cooking the beans with a Lapsang Souchong teabag did not add anything in the way of extra flavour, but also, let it be said, it did not detract from the taste of the beans. I was going to make a superbly and subtly smoky soya bean chole sort of thing, but in the event, I decided to do something else with the tea-cooked beans.

And that is how this sesame soyabean pulao happened. Looks quite nice, doesn't it? It tasted as good as it looks - and I personally believe it looks verrrrry good!

Mind it!



Recipe for: Sesame soyabean pulao



Ingredients:

4-5 cups cooked basmati rice, cooled
1-1/2 cups cooked soyabeans
2 medium onions, sliced thin
4-5 green chillies, sliced into strips (to taste)



3 tbsp sesame seeds, crushed lightly in a mortar & pestle
1/4 cup concentrated tomato puree
1" stick cinnamon
1 star anise
1 green cardamom
1 black cardamom (optional)
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp oil
Salt to taste
2 tbsp chopped coriander for garnish

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a pan big enough to comfortably take 4 cups cooked rice. When the oil is hot, add the cumin seeds, cinnamon stick, cardamoms and star anise. Let them brown gently (about a minute) till their aroma is released.



2. Now add the sesame seeds and let them fry till they begin to turn a pale brown.





3. Add the onions and stir fry on medium heat till the onions begin to turn soft.



4. Pour in the tomato puree.



5. Mix it in well,



then add the cooked soyabeans.



Stir them in gently till they are completely covered with the onion masala. The masala should not be runny or watery, or the pulao will not taste right.



6. Add the chopped coriander and stir it in, along with salt to taste.



7. Now mix the cooked rice with the soyabean masala, taking care not to break up the grains.



8. Serve hot with any raita.