Mushroom Matar Curry (North Indian style)

Hello foodies 😊

Here’s Mushroom Matar Curry recipe today. When I prepared this dish and my family tasted it, my husband rated this as my best preparation so far. The appearance might be simple, but it tasted really yummy …. so please try this one and relish the dish. I avoided butter and milk cream in this recipe, although I added cashew nuts, which my mother had given me when I last met her. This is what caused the curry to be of the light colour instead of red. Also the curry tasted rich due to cashew nuts.

Mushroom Matar masala is a typical North Indian side dish, wherein, tasty and nutritious vegetables like Mushrooms and Peas are cooked in spicy onion tomato gravy. The addition of cashew nut paste to this gravy adds to its richness and gives it a nutty, creamy and mildly sweet taste. Even though this adds fat, I like it because of its richness and taste. This recipe is quite popular in all the food joints, if you travel in the North of India like Delhi NCR, due to its taste and health benefits. I like eating Mushroom Matar curry with simple phulkas / chapatis or plain steamed rice.

INGREDIENTS :

(1) 8 pieces of Button Mushrooms, chopped into quarter sized pieces
(2) 150 grams of Green peas
(3) Onion – 2 medium sized, chopped into thin long slices
(4) Tomatoes – 2 small sized, chopped into cubes
(5) Ginger- 1 inch sized piece, minced
(6) Garlic – 6 – 7 cloves, minced
(7) Green chillies – 2 pieces, minced
(8) Cashews – 2 – 3 tablespoons
(9) 2 pinches of Asafoetida / Hing powder
(10) Cumin / Jeera seeds – half teaspoon
(11) Turmeric / Haldi powder – one fourth teaspoon
(12) Red chilli powder – three fourth teaspoon
(13) Cumin / Jeera powder – half teaspoon
(14) Coriander / Dhaniya powder – three fourth teaspoon
(15) Kitchen King garam masala – three fourth teaspoon
(16) Kasuri methi / Dry Fenugreek leaves – half teaspoon
(17) Vegetable Oil – 4 tablespoons
(18) Coriander leaves for garnishing
(19) Salt to taste

Ingredients for making Mushroom Matar Curry : Cumin / Jeera seeds, Turmeric / Haldi powder, Kashmiri red chilli powder (From left to right in the first row). Cumin / Jeera powder, Coriander / Dhaniya powder, Kitchen King Garam Masala powder (From left to right in the second row). Kasuri Methi / Dry Fenugreek leaves, Asafoetida / Hing powder and Vegetable Oil (From left to right in the third row)

Button Mushrooms (8 pieces), chopped Onions, chopped Tomatoes (From left to right in the first row). Matar / Fresh green Peas, Cashew nuts, Coriander leaves (From left to right in the second row). Chopped green chillies, finely chopped garlic, finely chopped ginger (From left to right in the third row).

Cuisine : North Indian
Serves : 3-4 persons
Time required : 20 mins for preparing and 30 mins for cooking

PREPARATION :

(1) Soak raw cashew nuts in hot water for 10 – 15 mins. Then, remove the skin of the cashew nuts and keep aside.

(2) Cook fresh shelled peas in a boiling water with little salt. When cooked, drain the water and keep the peas aside.

(3) Remove the skin of Onions and chop it into long slices. Wash the tomatoes nicely and chop it into cubes. Wash green chillies and remove stalk. Chop the chillies into small pieces. Peel the ginger and wash thoroughly. Cut it into small pieces (mince). Also cut the garlic cloves into small pieces.

(4) Clean each Mushroom nicely and cut into 3-4 pieces.

METHOD :

(1) Heat 1 tablespoon of cooking oil in a kadhai / wok on a medium heat. Once warm, add half teaspoon of Cumin / Jeera seeds and allow it to splutter and change colour. Add 2 pinches of Asafoetida. Then, add minced garlic and ginger. Saute till they turn golden brown. Add chopped Onions and green chillies.

Add a 2 pinches of salt so that the Onions cook faster and sauté / stir fry till the Onions turn translucent. This will take 4 mins. Now add the chopped tomatoes. Stir fry till the tomatoes become soft. This will take about 2 mins. Now add peeled Cashew nuts and stir fry another 2 mins. Turn off the stove and let it cool. Put the mixture in a grinding jar. Grind this onion tomato fried mixture into smooth paste and keep aside.

(2) Heat 1 tablespoon of cooking oil in a kadhai / wok on a medium heat. Once hot, add Onion Tomato paste.
Mix it and let it cook till moisture evaporates and oil separates. Add all the dry spice powders – one fourth teaspoon of Turmeric powder, three fourth teaspoon of Kashmiri Red Chilli powder, three fourth teaspoon of Coriander / Dhaniya powder, half teaspoon of Cumin / Jeera powder, three fourth teaspoon of garam masala powder. Add salt to taste. Mix it well.
Add 1 glass (300 ml) of water. Mix it properly.
This process of cooking the gravy took me 12 mins.

(3) Now add the chopped Mushrooms. Mix well.

After 4 mins, Add the cooked Peas too at this stage.

(4) Take half teaspoon of dry fenugreek leaves in hand and crush it and add to the Mushroom Peas curry. After another 4 mins of cooking, turn the gas flame off. Mushroom cooks in about 5 – 8 mins depending on gas flame intensity. Peas was already cooked but I still cooked it another 4 mins in gravy so that it blend with the gravy.