Mushroom Curry for Little Thumbs Up and I Heart Cooking Clubs

Little Thumbs Up : Baking and Cooking event, selected ingredient for the month of May is "MUSHROOMS"

Little Thumbs Up, is an event organized by Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids and Doreen from my little favourite D.I.Y. , where an ingredient is selected each month and everyone is welcome to join in by using the selected ingredient either in your bakes or in your cooking pot. I am the host for this month, and my selected ingredient is "MUSHROOMS". Please do join us, cook or bake any recipes using Mushrooms as one of its ingredient, post it in your blog within this month, (only new and current posts), and link to Little Thumbs Up, in the thumbnail linky which is provided at the bottom of this post. To find out more details on Little Thumbs Up, please click here.

While this month's theme is MAY : MUSHROOMS, the selected ingredient for June is Curry Powder or Paste and will be hosted by Everybody Eats Well In Flanders. Cook  or bake any of your favourite curry dish, and link that up in June which shall start on 4th June.

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I'm linking today's post to two events, one is Little Thumbs Up, where the selected ingredient for this month is Mushrooms, and I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC), for our Potluck week where we can select to cook from any of our previous featured chefs' recipes. So, I have chosen to cook Madhur Jaffrey's Mushroom Curry, something that I've wanted to try, and seems the perfect selection for both Little Thumbs Up and IHCC.

Mushroom for Today : Brown Button Mushroom

Brown Button Mushroom, also known as Cremini Mushrooms. They have a similar appearance to the White Button but have a light-tan to rich-brown cap and a firmer texture. Personally, I find that they taste almost the same!

For this mushroom dish, I'm using Brown Button Mushrooms. Bought two packs last week, used some of it for the Mushroom Chocolate Cookies, my previous post, and use up the balance for this curry dish.

This is another lovely dish from Madhur Jaffrey. Suitable for vegetarians and can be eaten with either rice or bread. Surprisingly, the only spices used are ground coriander and chilli powder. This dish uses a small amount of yoghurt and tomato puree. The mushrooms are cut to big chunks, so that they do not get lost in the sauce during cooking, they are first stir-fried in a little oil to get rid of the raw look and later are added in to braise together with the sauteed spices.

We ate this with some roti paratha, I use Kawan brand frozen paratha, one of my favourites. Since I'm serving this to my kids as well, I have used the amount of chili powder as per the recipe, about 1/4 tsp, which makes out quite a mild curry. For spicier taste, you might want to increase on the amount of chili powder.  This is really a simple curry, so do not expect one that is bursting with very bold curry flavours, but it is kinda nice, especially when eaten with paratha.

This post is linked to I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC) for this week's "Potluck", with recipes from any of the seven previous featured chefs

Please do stop by I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC) to view what my friends have made for the theme of this week, "Potluck" , and if you are interested to join us, please find out more details from IHCC.

And, I'm also linking this post to Little Thumbs Up event, hosted by Joyce, kitchen flavours, organized by Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids and Doreen for my little favourite D.I.Y.

To join us, simply bake or cook any recipes using the ingredient for this month MUSHROOM.  Submit your post by linking to the thumbnail linky provided at the bottom of this post. 

• Your submission must be a current and new post.
• Mention Little Thumbs Up in your post, and submit your post to the thumbnail linky to the host of this month, Joyce from kitchen flavours, and link to Bake For Happy Kids, and my little favourite D.I.Y. 
• Feel free to display Little Thumbs Up badge in your post.
• Last date of linking will be on 31st May 2013.

Mushroom Curry
(adapted from "100 Essential Curry", Madhur Jaffrey)
Serves 4
4cm (1-1/2-in) piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
100gm (4 oz) onions, peeled and chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
450gm (1lb) large mushrooms
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons natural yoghurt
1 teaspoon tomato puree
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8-1/4 teaspoon chilli powder
2 tablespoons chopped green coriander

Step One :
Put the ginger, onion and garlic into the container of an electric blender along with 3 tablespoons water and blend until smooth. Wipe the mushrooms with a damp cloth and cut them into halves or quarters, depending upon size.

Step Two :
Put 3 tablespoons of the oil in a non-stick frying pan and set over high heat. When hot, put in the mushrooms. Stir and fry for 2-3 minutes or until the mushrooms have lost their raw look. Empty the contents of the pan into a bowl. Wipe the pan.

Step Three :
Put the remaining oil into the pan and set over high-heat. When hot, add the paste from the blender. Stir and fry for 3-4 minutes until it starts turning brown. Add 1 tablespoon of the yoghurt and fry for 30 seconds. Add another tablespoon of the yoghurt and fry for 30 seconds. Do this a third time. Now add the tomato puree and fry for 30 seconds. Add the ground coriander and stir once or twice. Now put in 300ml water, the mushrooms and their juices, salt and chilli powder. Stir and bring to a simmer. Turn the heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes. Sprinkle the green coriander over the top before serving.

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