A mouth-watering curried mushrooms sauteed in a tangy spice blend, this sweet, sour and spicy achaari mushrooms strike the right balance making it a perfect summer treat!
Recipe site and food blogs are flooded with all summer recipes and why not! Each season plays its dominant roles in our menus and cooking habits.
Summer is all about fruits and salads and barbecues. It’s also about the pickles and Popsicle! So after couple of barbecue recipes, I thought of turning to something from my root. Yeah I am talking about Indian food.
Today’s recipe is a achaari curried mushrooms with a base of a tangy and spicy sauce which is just perfect to beat the tropical heat here!
India has a long summer in most places and the summer is really hot in the plains. Mountains are of course much cooler, but I being a habitat of plains can’t enjoy that blissful weather.
Summer is the time for us to make pickles of various kinds. The varieties are simply uncountable and you are guaranteed to be amazed to see how vast the range of pickles can be!
The pickles not only preserve the seasonal fruits and vegetables, but the sourness of the pickles also help us suit with the hot weather. A double treat you see!
So why am I talking about pickles so much today! Wondering?
Nay. It’s not a pickle recipe today. But it definitely has some link with the pickles. As you see the names says it is Achaari curried mushrooms.
‘Achaari’ is a derivative word from ‘Achaar’ which means pickle in Hindi. So ‘Achaari’ will literally mean ‘something with a pickled taste’.
The base flavor of this curried mushrooms comes from a spice blend which is a combination of few basic Indian whole spices.
This combo is just so good and lends such an exquisite aroma that I can’t even describe in words. Honestly I am not exaggerating!
- Mustard seeds – 2 tsp
- Cumin seeds – 2 tsp
- Nigella seeds (kalonji) – 1 & ½ tsp
- Fennel seeds – 2 tsp
- Fenugreek seeds – ½ tsp
- Carom seeds (ajwain) – ½ tsp
- Dry red chilli - 10
- Dry mango powder (amchoor) – ½ tsp
- Button mushrooms – 500 gms
- Achari spice blend – 1 tsp
- Mustard oil – 4 tbsp
- Red onion – 1, chopped finely
- Garlic paste – 1 tsp
- Ginger paste – 2 tsp
- Red tomato – 1 large or 2 small, blanched and pureed
- Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
- Kashmiri red chilli powder – 1 tsp
- Dry fenugreek leaves – ½ tsp
- Salt to taste
- Juice of ½ lemon
- Chopped coriander leaves – ½ cup
- To make the Achaari spice blend, dry roast all the spices except the red chillies and dry mango powder. Once the whole spices are fragrant, remove from fire and let them cool. Roast the red chillies separately until aromatic but make sure you don’t burn them. Cool and grind all the whole spices and chillies together. Then Mix in the dry mango powder and you have the achaari spice blend ready.
- Clean the mushrooms by wiping them with a dry kitchen towel and get rid of any dirt. Cut the mushrooms into half or quarter if too big.
- In a pan, heat oil and sauté the chopped onions. Add the garlic paste and ginger paste and sauté till the onions are softened and turn light brown.
- Add the pureed tomato and give a good stir. Wait till all the moisture evaporates and oil resurfaces.
- To the onions, add turmeric powder, Kashmiri chilli and 1 teaspoon of achari spice blend. Sauté on low flame for a minute until the powdered spices are sautéed well. Continue to cook on low flame till the puree thickens and the gravy comes together. If the sauce sticks too much, add couple of splashes of water but not too much.
- Add the mushrooms and sauté for 2 minutes on high heat; season with salt. The mushrooms will release a bit of water which helps to bring the dish together. Taste at this stage and adjust seasoning if needed. Now cover and cook on low flame for about 10 minutes or until the mushrooms are soft and all cooked through. If there is much water in the pan, boil some off and bring it to a thick consistency.
- Take the pan off the flame and add the fenugreek leaves, lemon and coriander leaves.
- Serve hot with butter naan or parantha!
Mobile App Developers says
Very interesting blog. A lot of blogs I see these days don’t really provide anything that attract others, but I’m most definitely interested in this one. Just thought that I would post and let you know.