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January 25, 2004

Aloo mutter & mushrooms

Ever wondered what to do with those mushrooms in your fridge that have passed the "use by" date by a couple of days or so? Potatoes in your cupboard sprouting a few shoots perhaps? A couple of handfulls of frozen peas lurking in a bag in the depths of your freezer compartment? Wishing you could do something about those onions you haven't used yet? Time for another Route79 cooking lesson: Get the following items together: * 1 bag of mushrooms chopped into quarters * 2 large onions chopped finely * 1 tin of peeled plum-tomatoes * 2 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped into bite-sized chunks * Frozen, pre-pulped garlic, ginger and green-chillie (Read this recipe for for more info on this.) * Spices: Turmeric (Haldi), Garam Masala, Ground Coriander, Salt, Jeera (cumin) seeds * A large-ish pot in which to pour 3 or 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil * Optional: some fresh (or frozen) chopped coriander leaf to garnish at the end Don't worry about precision in the amounts - just use "the force" that comes to you - that's all part of the fun of Indian cooking. I'm sure Delia Smith wouldn't approve at such lack of detail - but I'm certain that Jamie Oliver would say "Lovely jalebi!"
Ingredients
Heat the oil in the pot until hot. Add the cumin seeds and watch them pop and fizzle for around 20 seconds. Then add the finely chopped onions and fry until they are brownish.
Fry the cumin seeds until they pop - and then fry the onions until browned
Then add the pre-pulped, frozen garlic, ginger and chillie chunks and stir-fry for a few minutes before adding the spices: 2 teaspoons salt, 2 teaspoons haldi (tumeric), 3 teaspoons garam masala, 2 teaspoons ground coriander. Stir it all up until the aroma starts to take over your kitchen.
Adding the spices - and stir-frying until the aroma starts to get the better of you
After a few minutes - add the tinned peeled-plum tomato - and chop them up coarsely with your wooden spoon in the pot:
Adding the tinned tomato - and chopping it inside the pan using wooden spoon
Fry on medium heat for a few minutes - stirring occasionally - until you can see the oil separating from the mixture when you stir it. Then add the chopped potato.
Stir-frying the mixture - then adding the potatoes
Stir it all up thoroughly - and then add around 500ml of boiling water.
Adding the potatoes and some boiling water to the mixture
Then put the lid half-on and let it simmer semi-vigorously for around 10 mins before adding the chopped mushrooms.
Simmering - and then adding the mushrooms
Simmer for around 10 more minutes - stirring occasionally - and then add the bowl-full of frozen peas - and once again, stir thoroughly.
Adding the peas - and simmering for a little bit more
After the pot has reached the consistency that you prefer - switch off the flame and let it sit for around 10 minutes whilst you prepare the fresh basmati rice (or instead: pour into a deep bowl and prepare some warmed pitta bread or toast) with side-salad and/or chillie/mango pickle. Then serve up (and sprinkle with some fresh/frozen coriander leaf/stalks) and enjoy whilst it's hot!
Aloo mutter & mushrooms - simply delicious!
Any leftovers can be kept in a cling-filmed bowl or plastic container for up to two days in the fridge. But be sure to not keep leftover rice like that though. Throw any leftover rice away - always make it fresh the next day. (According to my Mum - "old" rice is not good for your brain.) If you missed any of my previous home-made, London-style, Indian recipes (with some hints and tips) - then you clickety-click them here: * Aloo Gobi: http://www.route79.com/journal/archives/000145.html * Burmese chicken curry: http://www.route79.com/journal/archives/000135.html * Punjabi-style chicken: http://www.route79.com/journal/archives/000127.html * Saag: http://www.route79.com/journal/archives/000126.html * Chicken-rice: http://www.route79.com/journal/archives/000108.html * Pilchard-rice: http://www.route79.com/journal/archives/000072.html

Posted by jag at January 25, 2004 10:22 PM

Comments

Yummmmmmmmmmm! To be honest i always skip the preparation stages and only look at the pics of the completed dish. Well i can't cook to save my life and its eating which interests me.....Well the end product looks yummmmmmmmmmmm..............Jag, u really have lotsa patience to actually have cookery posts with lots of pictures.........:)

Posted by: Shobha at January 26, 2004 05:45 PM

Also scrolling down i just noticed the pcitures............wow......beautiful ya.......especially this one: The contrast in mood and ambience between the inside and the outside.
(Ealing Common, Piccadilly Line Westbound, last carriage.)
Very nice......:)

Posted by: Shobha at January 26, 2004 05:47 PM

Looks fabulous - now I just need someone to cook it for me!

And wash up.

Posted by: Vicky at January 26, 2004 07:05 PM

One more thing.
Arent you supposed to boil or fry the mushrooms before you put them in the Aloo mutter.
Boiling the mushrooms (I dont know for how long), make them softer and slightly larger/swollen - and they absorb the spices and masalas easily.
Boiling them is a necessity, if you are going to use out-of-date mushrooms
Frying them, makes them slightly smaller, but slightly more delicious.

Posted by: sat at January 27, 2004 04:59 AM

Shobha: Yes - we enjoyed eating the end-product too! It's kind of fun taking the pics and directing Ms.79 on what to do. Yes - I am the one who cooks in my house - but she is not familiar with my digital cam yet - so I have to ask her to take the wooden spoon and follow my instructions! Also: glad you liked the tube train picture - I was about to delete it thinking it wasn't very good - but I put it up here instead.

Vicky: The cooking is the easy bit - but loading up the dishwasher is a real chore ...

Sat: Perfect logic Sat. if the mushrooms are out of date (they have discoloured on the outside) then boiling them is better than frying them. However - in this recipe - the mushrooms are boiled/simmered in the pot after the potatoes have gone a bit soft - so they *do* get cooked thoroughly - and as you said: they soak up all the masala etc. and make for interesting texture in this classic aloo mutter dish.

And I would have to agree with you - frying the mushroom beforehand seals in the falvour of the mushroom - so gives the end-dish a more "mushroom" taste as well as the extra texture. I have found in my experience that the large flat mushrooms taste better than the button mushrooms - so chopping up the large ones into smaller pieces and then frying them first is a great option to take. Also: the large flat mushrooms tend to shrink less than the button ones when fried.


Posted by: Jag at January 27, 2004 11:01 AM

I'm cooking this today, although in my slow cooker (God's gift to the single man :-) )

Smells great so I hope I can wait the 6 hours....

Posted by: James at January 29, 2004 11:45 AM

Good luck! You must share with us how it turns out - because I've never experienced cooking stuff like this in a slow cooker.

Posted by: Jag at January 29, 2004 12:05 PM

Worked a treat but a little dry - guess I just cooked it too long. One question though. I've had my jar of Garam Massala for ages now and it's almost empty. Wheres a good place to go shopping for quality spices?

Posted by: James at January 30, 2004 12:51 AM

James: it really depends upon where you live. But to be honest with you - there is not much variability in "quality" of the basic set of spices (turmeric, ground-coriander, ground-chillie, garam masala) which are imported to UK. We get most of our supplies in a shop called VB & Sons - there are two branches: one in Ealing Road Wembley and one in Kinsgbury. To be honest with you - practically most Asian convenience stores (and even the big supermarkets) will stock packets of the basic spices. My advice would be to stick to the branded packets: NatCo and Rajah are the two most popular in UK. Just be aware that the big supermarekts will prob charge you twice as much as what you will find in the Asian shops in the High Streets of Wembley, Kingsbury, Southall, Tooting, Green Street etc.)

Oh - and another little advice - whatever you do - don't buy the "sharwoods" stuff in those poxy little jars or refills - they are extortionately expensive (you only get a teeny bit - which is a joke) and they don't taste the same as the NatCo and Rajah brands - they taste so bland!

Posted by: Jag at January 31, 2004 11:25 AM

James: I just discovered Natco Online:

http://www.natco-online.com/

If you are too far away from indian shops - then you could always order from them on the web. Go for the 400g packets (not the jars) - and store the spices in airtight containers (e.g. tupperware) after opening. The basic set for Indian cooking:

Salt (from your supermarket)
Ground Coriander
Turmeric (Haldi)
Garam Masala
Chille Powder

Posted by: Jag at January 31, 2004 11:29 AM

Cheers Jag. I live in Pinner and there's quite a big Asian supermarket in Rayners Lane I think - I'll give it a go :-)

Posted by: James at January 31, 2004 12:53 PM

Looking forward to cooking this dish tonight! I'm in the process of going vegetarian (at the request of my mother-in-law) and am always looking to add new vegetarian dishes to my recipe book! Thanks much! I'll come back and post a review!

Posted by: Carolyn at June 11, 2004 10:47 PM

Hi Carolyn - good luck with the cooking - and hope it turns out tasty for you. Yes - be sure to let us know how you got on!

Posted by: Jag at June 12, 2004 09:51 AM

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