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Mushroom Chili

January 22, 2012 in Appetizers, Main Course, Recipes

Mushroom replaces Paneer/Chicken in this all-time favorite Indo-Chinese dish…

Indo-chinese is one of those cuisines that we Indians really love. It’s a fusion which brings together the flavors of Indian food with Chinese flavors. One of our all-time favorites is Paneer Chili or Chicken Chili which is essentially Chicken or Paneer shallow fried and then flavored with some chinese style sauces. I had some sliced mushrooms in my refrigerator from my last grocery trip and suddenly had this  craving from Paneer Chili. There was no Paneer at home so I decided to make some Mushroom Chili. The most tie consuming step is shallow frying of the mushrooms. Depending on how big a dish you have to shallow fry the mushrooms, the time taken to prepare the dish is reduced. Its takes about 5-10 minutes to  shallow fry the mushrooms and the rest of the recipe takes about 20-30 mins. So overall this dish would take about 30-40 mins (depends on how many batches of the mushrooms you need to shallow fry). This recipe would serve 3-4 persons.

Ingredients:

  1. 1 packet sliced mushrooms
  2. 3-4 tbsp corn flour
  3. 1/4 tsp salt
  4. 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  5. Oil for shallow frying the mushrooms
  6. 3-4 garlic pods (crushed)
  7. 1 medium / 1/2 large red onion (sliced)
  8. 1/2 Green Pepper (sliced into 1″ strips)
  9. 1-4 green chilies (slit into thin strips) add more or less depending on hot you like the dish
  10. 3 tbsp soy sauce
  11. 1 tsp fish sauce
  12. 1 tsp white vinegar
  13. 1.5 tsp tomato paste
  14. 1-2 tsp red chili paste
  15. 1-2 tbsp sweet chili sauce
  16. 1 tsp brown sugar
  17. 1 tsp corn flour + 1 cup water
  18. salt to taste

Directions:

  • Add the mushrooms, corn flour, 1/4 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp black pepper to a container with a lid and shake it till the mushrooms are coated with the flour, salt and pepper mixture.
  • Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the mushrooms to this hot oil and shallow fry the mushrooms till they are lightly browned on either side.
  • Take the mushrooms out of the pan and drain the oil using a paper towel.
  • Next add the garlic and chilies to the remaining oil in the sauce (add more oil if no oil is leftover). Fry the garlic till it is fragrant.
  • Next add the onions. Fry the onions till they are slightly pink and add the green peppers.
  • Cook the green peppers till done (the peppers should be crisp and not overcooked).
  • At this point add all the sauces, paste, sugar and vinegar and salt. SImmer the mixture for a minute.
  • In the meanwhile add a tsp of cornflour to the one cup of water and mix it till no lumps remain.
  • Add this to the onion, pepper in the pan. Let the sauce come to a simmer and add the fried mushrooms.
  • Stir the mushroom into the sauce and let it come to a simmer.
  • Garnish with some chili strips and spring onions and serve the dish piping hot.

This can be served with some fried rice, noodles or even some bread. This is also a nice appetizer. Hope you enjoy this recipe and do try it and let me know how you liked it. And it’s a lucky coincidence that tomorrow is the Chinese Lunar New year. So happy New Year to all my Chinese friends!!!

Shilpa

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Eggplant in a Coconut Onion gravy

August 21, 2011 in Main Course, Recipes

A lazy Saturday afternoon lunch…

Today was one of the days where we actually woke up kind of early enough to have breakfast. But after some bagels and coffee Amit decided that he needed a late morning, early afternoon nap. So I decided that I would make some eggplant for lunch following the recipe that my Mom used to make at home.

I started making the eggplant and realized that I did not have a key ingredient, tomatoes. So I decided to improvise and make a different gravy. So instead of the onion tomato gravy that I was going to make for the eggplant, I decided to make a coconut onion gravy instead. And I am so glad I did not have tomatoes to make the original recipe; this one is just as good. It takes about 15-20 minutes to make the gravy and depending in how big a frying pan you have, about 5-10 minutes for each batch of eggplant slices. I had to fry the eggplant in about 4 batches so it took me about 30 minutes to be done with the frying, and the gravy was ready in the meanwhile. It takes close to 40-50 mins prepare the dish. It serves about 3 – 4 persons.

Ingredients:

  1. 1 large eggplant
  2. 1 tsp oil
  3. 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
  4. 1/4 tsp red chili flakes
  5. 1 onion
  6. 2 tsp ginger garlic paste
  7. 1/2 cup thick coconut milk
  8. 1/2 cup thin coconut milk
  9. 1/2 cup chopped coriander leaves
  10. 1 tsp coriander powder
  11. salt to taste

For frying the eggplant

  1. oil
  2. 2 red chilli powder
  3. 2 tsp ginger powder
  4. 1 1/2 tsp dried mango powder (amchur)
  5. 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
  6. 1/4 tsp garam masala
  7. salt to taste
  8. 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

Directions:

  • Slice the eggplant into 1/4 inch thick slices.
  • Mix the oil with the ingredients listed under ‘For frying the eggplant’. Brush the eggplant slices on both sides with the oil mixed in with the dried spices.
  • Heat a pan and fry the slices on without any oil. The oil brushed on the slices to saute/fry  it.
  • While the slices are frying you start preparing the gravy.

  • Heat some oil in a pan and add the cumin seeds and red chilli flakes.
  • Once the cumin seeds are browned add the chopped onions and fry it till it is browned slightly.
  • Next add the ginger garlic paste and cook till the raw smell of the ginger garlic paste is gone.
  • Now add the coriander powder and fry till the dry spice is cooked.
  • Next add the thin coconut milk and let it some to a simmer. Now add the chopped coriander leaves.
  • Once the coriander leaves are thoroughly mixed, add the thick coconut milk and salt and bring to a simmer.
  • Once the eggplant slices are all fried, transfer them to a baking dish.
  • Now pour the gravy over the eggplant slices in the baking dish.
  • Place the baking dish in the oven for about 10-20 minutes or till ready to serve.

Amit is my eggplant expert. He is the one who buys and makes eggplants for us at home. But today since he was taking a nap, I decided to make eggplant and he loved it. So it’s Amit certified!!! :) Hope you enjoy this dish as much as we did. Its definitely different from the usual recipes I have made with eggplant before. Thank you for reading this post and have a great rest of the weekend.

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Bombay Sandwich

October 15, 2010 in Appetizers, Sandwich, Snacks

A Taste of Bombay…

The other day a friend of mine posted this link on facebook, http://www.cnngo.com/mumbai/eat/40-mumbai-foods-we-cannot-live-without-974140. And that was good enough to trigger a lot of awesome mouth watering memories. I so wanted the bombay sandwich, the Tibbs’  frankie at shivaji park, the samosa chole at Guru Kripa, the vada pav n the list goes on. I was in no mood to make anything that would take more than 1/2 hour. So I decided to make the Bombay sandwich for dinner. I know it’s not so much a dinner meal but well I guess I decide what’s on the menu!!!

And add to that the fact that my mom used to make a version of the bombay sandwich for lunch. And I remember my friends used to devour all of it and well I used to devour their lunch. So I made some Bombay Sandwiches for dinner. I was in such a hurry to eat it all up that I totally missed taking the photos part… But here’s my version of the bombay sandwich recipe. I’ll put up the pics next time I make them. This recipe takes about 1/2 hour to make from start to finish.

Ingredients:

  1. 6 slices of bread (white bread is the original bread used but I used slices of multi-grain bread)
  2. 2-3 medium sized potatoes, boiled and sliced
  3. 2 tomatoes, sliced
  4. 1 large onion, sliced
  5. 1 medium cucumber, sliced
  6. 1 cup fresh coriander
  7. 1/2 cup fresh mint leaves
  8. 1 tablespoon tamarind paste
  9. 3 cloves garlic
  10. 1/8 medium onion
  11. 1 green chili (to taste)
  12. 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
  13. 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
  14. 1/4 teaspoon sugar
  15. salt to taste
  16. butter to spread

Directions:

  • Grind the coriander leaves, mint leaves, tamarind, garlic cloves, 1/8 onion, green chili, cumin powder, lemon juice in a blender.
  • Add salt to taste. If the chili turns out to be too spicy add some more sugar.
  • Spread the butter on one side of a slice, spread the green chutney over the butter and add one layer of potatoes, one layer of tomatoes , one layer of cucumber and one layer of onion.
  • Place the second slice (buttered and green chutney spread on one side) over this and then butter and apply the green chutney on the other side.
  • Again add the vegetables as before and top it off with the third slice of bread (buttered and the green chutney spread).
  • I like to chill the sandwich for half hour in the refrigerator before serving.
  • Cut the sandwich into 4 squares or triangles before serving.
  • This is also served toasted.

This makes 2 sandwiches, which were  pretty filling. I am almost always content with one sandwich. Now that I have made the bombay sandwich and devoured it, I now have my eyes on the frankie. I will most definitely be trying to make one as close as possible to the Tibb’s frankie. (Tibb’s frankie is a chain which makes the most mouth-watering frankies – a must try if you go to Bombay).

My mom’s version of the sandwich was made with a coconut chutney instead of the green chutney. That used to taste awesome too. I must ask her to make one for me the next time I go to India. After all you can never replicate your mom’s recipe. You can just get close enough to it.

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