Creamy Mushroom curry / Malai Methi Mushroom. Delicate creamy curry, with the creaminess of cashew butter and aromatic fenugreek leaves, mild spiced, served with fragrant saffron basmati pilaf.



Morning walks are therapeutic, it clears your mind and fills your soul. The fresh morning breeze, the birds, the first rays of the morning sun, kissing the earth...

As I grow older I want to live a more gratifying life. We consume not just food but a lot more than we realize. I have slowly and intentionally tried to weed out the 'unwanted' in the pursuit of a meaningful existence. There is so much to weed out, externally and internally, it is amazing the amount of junk we accumulate. Weeding out the external was hard but nothing compared to weeding out and being mindful of my internal feelings and doings. I do not let anyone's thoughts or perception, color my own thought, I take it as a commentary of the moment and let it go.

The internal 'noise' is something else, it is your own junk to clean and keep up. The best thing I did a few months back was to upload 2 apps on my phone, one headspace and the other, moment. I am not going to tell you what it is, but both of them are great tools that helped me reduce the noise inside my head.  No, this is not a paid endorsements for these apps.  For me walking helps me focus like nothing else does. This year when I went to write down my goals, not surprisingly,  all I had was just one word : gratification. That encompassed so much, I'm not competing  with anyone but myself. Neither am I proving my metal to anyone but myself, for in the end I have to be answerable to no one but myself.

I have titled the image below as - the reward for my solitude, not just from external noise, but a reward for being in the moment and trying to seek the light. I cherish this image ....

 

As I was wondering around the forest preserve, I saw this patch of daffodils...Daffodils have almost become synonymous with Wordsworth.

 

"For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils. "

 

-Wordsworth

Sharing all this poetry, I was almost lost ... and forgot I have to write a recipe. Scroll down and you will find it. Mushroom was one of my dad's favorite. Teen is very fond of it as well, and needless to say, it is definitely my top ten favorite. The Mr. , has acquired taste for it and am happy to say loves it as well. This is served with saffron rice pilaf, I am going to do a separate post for the pilaf, reason being, if I pair it with any-other curry in future posts, it is easy to link the recipe.

 

 

Creamy Mushroom Curry/  Malai Methi Mushroom

 

Ingredients

 

• 2 cups white button mushrooms
• 1 medium white onion finely chopped
• 1/2 tomato puree or 2 tbsp. ready tomato puree
• 2 cups fenugreek leaves finely chopped, can substitute spinach
• 2-3 garlic pods
• 1 inch fresh turmeric root or ginger
• 2  1/2 tbsp  butter 
• 1/2 cup full cream or malai
• 1/4th cup cashew or 2 tbsp. cashew butter
• 2 tbsp. poppy seed (khas-khas) (optional)
• 1 tsp cumin (jeera) seeds
• 1 tbsp red chili powder
• 1 tsp. garam masala
• salt to taste
•  2 tbsp. vinegar 
•  1 cup water

 

Takes 30-40 min,

serves 4.

 

Instructions

1. Mix the vinegar and water, soak the mushroom in vinegar-water. For about 20 minutes, it marinates the mushrooms a bit but more than that, it cleans it up really well.
2. Soak the cashew nut and poppy seed in water - NO vinegar.
3. Clean the mushroom and chop it in quarters. Heat a pan, add butter (1 tbsp. ) and sauté the mushrooms, add salt and keep aside.
4. In another pan, melt the remaining butter add cumin seeds and let it splatter, add onions, turmeric root (grated) or garlic and roast till mild golden color,  let it not be brown as it will ruin the color of the curry.
5. Pour in the tomato puree, along with salt and fenugreek leaves. Roast till the fenugreek is cooked. You can substitute spinach here, but I love the flavor of fenugreek leaves, if you have not tried it... you must!
6. Make a fine paste from the cashew you have soaked. Using poppy seeds is optional - it has a very mild flavor but more importantly it thickens the gravy.
7. Add the red chili powder, garam masala and sauté. Now pour the cashew paste and cream and stir.
8. Drain the mushroom, it will leave water and add the mushroom to the gravy.
9. Let it simmer for at least 20-30 minutes on low flame, stir occasionally.

Serve with Saffron rice - recipe coming soon.