Mushroom masala is one of my favorite Indian vegetarian curries and can be equally enjoyed with rice or roti. This is one of the most ordered dishes in any Indian restaurants too!
If I convert to a vegetarian someday, I would survive on mushrooms and I have no doubt about it! And this mushroom masala would be one of the most exploited dishes in our house then. I am simply in love with button mushrooms; their texture, taste, flavors everything captivate me and I can simply live on any mushroom recipe. This mushroom masala is one typical Indian curry with beautiful aroma. Mushrooms having sponge-like texture soak up the flavors of the spices beautifully and makes this mushroom masala a delicious dish to enjoy with roti, rice, naan, paratha or anything whatsoever.
Mushroom is quite a new entrant in Indian cuisine. I could recall having mushrooms only once or twice during my childhood. My mom wasn’t sure how to make it and non-existence of something like YouTube or food blogs wasn’t helpful either. It’s when I started cooking on my own that I started experimenting with new ingredients, mushroom being one of them and I fell in love with it from the very first time I tried it. This mushroom masala has now become one of the regular curries which I make at home for our regular meals.
If you have arrived at this page while searching for mushroom masala recipe, then firstly I would like to thank you for choosing to click on my page and secondly, I guarantee you that you won’t regret your time here and will revisit soon! There are ample recipes available for mushroom masala on net and I am sure each is unique in its own way and after you browse through few, you will come up with your own version which will turn out to be the best one for you and your family. That’s the beauty of sharing recipes across net. You get to see many approaches of the same recipe and pick the best suited one for you! But along with this typical Indian mushroom masala, you will find plenty other mushroom recipes here or over my other blog Flavor Quotient. Hence, if you are a mushroom lover, you are in total win-win situation!
I am sure you will love the way I made my mushroom masala. It is not complicated at all and starts like any other typical Indian curry. First you temper the hot oil with whole spices. This is one of my favorite steps of Indian cooking. When the whole spices like cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, bay leaves etc. release their flavors after coming in contact with hot oil, your house starts to smell like a royal kitchen and there could be nothing other than this to make you feel more ecstatic. Post tempering the oil comes sautéing your aromatics i.e. onion, ginger, garlic which is then followed by adding some acidity to the curry i.e. tomatoes and/or yogurt. Finally, everything comes together with powdered spices & seasoning and you get the most amazing dish to rejuvenate your senses. So, you see, making a typical Indian curry, like this mushroom masala, is not at all difficult to make if you follow the logical sequence of the steps. So, go ahead and make yourself some good old curry and enjoy good food inside the comfort of your home!
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- Button mushrooms – 400 gms
- Onion – 2, large, make a smooth paste of them
- Ginger paste – 1 tbsp
- Garlic paste – 2 tbsp
- Vegetable/mustard oil – 6 tbsp
- Bay leaf – 1
- Green cardamom – 4 to 6
- Black cardamom – 1
- Cloves – 4 to 6
- Cumin seeds – ½ tsp
- Turmeric powder – 1 tsp
- Cumin powder – 2 tsp
- Coriander powder – 2 tsp
- Hot chili powder – 1 tsp
- Kashmiri chili powder – 1 tsp
- Sugar – ½ tsp
- Salt to taste
- Tomato puree – 2 tbsp
- Plain yogurt/curd – ¼ cup
- Freshly chopped coriander leaves to garnish
- Wipe each mushroom with a tissue or damp kitchen towel to remove all the loose dirt. Cut each button mushroom into half. Set them aside.
- Heat about 2 tablespoons of mustard oil in a skillet or kadhai. Once the oil is hot, add the cut mushrooms to the skillet and fry them on medium flame for about 15 minutes or until they turn golden brown in edges and also shrink in size to half (do not be tempted to add salt at this point). Mushrooms will not be cooked through at this stage. Take them out and set aside.
- Add the remaining oil to the same skillet. Once hot, temper the oil with whole spices – bay leaf, green & black cardamom, cloves and cumin seeds. Let them crackle and become fragrant for few seconds.
- Then tip in the onion paste, ginger paste and garlic paste. Sauté the onion-ginger-garlic paste for good 10 minutes on medium flame until they turn golden brown and all the moisture is boiled off.
- Add the tomato puree and cook it until the raw smell is gone, about couple of minutes.
- Then add the powdered spices – turmeric, cumin, coriander, hot chili and Kashmiri chili powder. Add the sugar and salt to taste. Add a splash of water and stir-fry the spices on medium high heat until the oil starts to separate, about 2 minutes. Add about ¼ cup of water if the spices start to stick to the skillet.
- Add fried mushrooms and mix them well with the spice mix. Sauté the mushrooms in the spice mixture for good 5 minutes allowing them to soak up all the wonderful aroma.
- While the mushrooms are being cooked, whisk the yogurt with ¾ cup of water to get rid of any lumps.
- Once the mushroom is nicely sautéed, reduce the heat to minimum and pour the whisked curd to the skillet and keep stirring. Whisking the curd with water before adding it to the hot pan will prevent it from splitting.
- Let the liquid come to a boil. Then cover and simmer the mushroom masala for 5 more minutes for all the flavors to come together.
- Finally, uncover the skillet, check for doneness of the mushroom which should be completely cooked by now and check & adjust for seasoning if needed.
- Check the consistency of the gravy and boil off some excess if it seems too watery. Sprinkle freshly chopped coriander leaves and serve warm mushroom masala with roti or rice.
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