Chettinad Mushroom Masala

Both TH and I are huge mushroom lovers. I make different dishes quite often but mostly over week nights when there is either no light or no energy left in me to plate and photograph the dishes. Last weekend I tried chettinad the Chettinad mushroom masala recipe that a friend's mother passed on me when she saw my interest in Chettinad dishes. Though I heard their non-veg preparations, I would easily kill for a nicely prepared Chettinad vada curry or Chettinad mushroom masala any day. This recipe is on the spicier side and though the original recipe called for 1 tbsp oil, I tried with lesser amount oil and it worked just fine.

What I Used:

Any mushroom variety of choice - 2 cups, chopped (I used a mix of shitake and oyster mushroom)
Tamarind - a small marble-sized ball soaked and squeezed in 1/2 water to extract juice
Salt - to taste

For Spice Mixture

Garam masala - 1 tsp (crush 1 clove + 1 cardamom pod + 1/2" piece cinnamon)
Chana dal / kadala parippu / split bengal gram - 1 tbsp
Whole black pepper - 1 tsp. If using powder, use 1/2 tsp

For tempering

Oil - 2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Dry red chillies - 2, halved
Curry leaves - a few

How I Made It:

1. Dry roast the ingredients, cool and grind for spice mixture. If using garam masala, you can add while grinding.

2. Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. Once they start spluttering, add the curry leaves and red chillies. Fry for 10 seconds.

3. Add the chopped mushrooms and stir well until it is well coated with the oil. Add salt. Let it cook till the mushrooms start sweating and become soft. Then add the tamarind mixture and cook on an open fire until the gravy gets thick and sticks to the mushroom pieces.

4. Next, add the ground spice mixture and fry for another 3-4 mins. Adjust salt and remove from fire.

Serve hot with rice or roti.

I am sending this to Srimathi's RCI: Chettinadu Vegetarian Cuisine

You may also like my no-grind Mushroom Masala Recipe.