Spicy Pepper Mushroom Masala

You can try this recipe when a member of your family is down with cold or soar throat, when it is raining, when you want to eat something really piping hot!! I happened to cook this dish last night as i had all the above mentioned taking place at the same time. My hubby is not very fond of mushrooms, but he seemed to liked it with lots of pepper (noticed from his plate as it was wiped cleanly, hahaahhaaaa)!! I am happy he liked it and my tummy said, yum, yum, yum... It would have been great, if i was served the dish with me lazying on the couch with a cuppa of hot coffee and enjoying the weather in front of TV, but you guess not, I happened to cook the dish and my wish will always be a wish !!!!! Ok,Ok.. enough of me cribbing about my situation and let me take you to the recipe directly .......

Ingredients: (Serves 2)
Mushroom - 200 gms
Onion - 1 big - half coarsely cut, half finely chopped 
Tomato - 1 medium - finely chopped 
Peppercorns - 1 tsp
Cinnamon - 1/2 inch
Cardamom - 1
Cloves - 1
Ginger - 1/2 inch
Cumin / Jeera - 2 tsp
Saunf / Aniseed/ Sombu - 1 tsp
Chilli-corriander powder - 1/2 tsp
Pepper powder - finely grounded (homemade or Catch) - 1 tbsp
Cooking oil - 2 tbsp
Curry leaves - 1 string
Salt to taste
Corriander Leaves / cilantro

Preparation:

In a saucepan, heat 1 tbsp of cooking oil, add cumin, wait for it to splutter then add cardamom, cinnamon, clove,once they let out their aroma, add saunf, ginger, half an onion coarsely cut, fry the onion well till it turns translucent (to quicken frying of onions, add little salt) half of the finely chopped tomatoes, curry leaves. Let the tomatoes become soft and blend well. Turn off the stove and keep aside to cool. Meanwhile, wash the mushrooms well in running water and soak them in luke warm water for 5 minutes. With a clean towel wipe the mushroom dry. Trim the stem of the mushroom and cut them. 

Now grind the fried ingredients in a blender adding water if required to a fine paste. Heat 1 tbsp of cooking oil in a wok or kadai, once the oil if hot add the other half of the chopped onions till they turn translucent in color. Add tomatoes next, once they are cooked add chilli-corriander powder. Let it cook for 2 minutes, then add the grounded paste along with the cleaned and cut mushrooms. Cover with a lid and cook for 5 minutes. Mushrooms will generally leave water so if need be add water. Open the lid and stir well. Now add the pepper powder, take care to see that the pepper powder is finely grounded if homemade. Since the masala has to be thick, don't add too much water. Add salt to taste and leave it cook for 7 minutes. Garnish with corriander leaves/cilantro. Best served along with Puri, chapathi, phulka.

A little variation to the above recipe is, instead of mushrooms you can add mutton without bones. Thinking of this makes my mouth watering !!!! 

Tip: Be cautious while adding salt as even a little more will spoil the dish 'cause mushrooms  don't blend well with any masala, they just want to stand out !!

Try this out over the weekend and let me know how it turned out to be!!!