Capsicum- Mushroom Korma

An easy vegetarian korma !! Or a toned down version of the luxurious gravy dish that most people remember savoring at a restaurant !! My modified version is one that can be had on a everyday basis and it goes equally good with both rice and rotis.

It is somewhat similar to ( and inspired by ) the mushroom-capsicum curry that we make with mustard sauce in Odisha. Do check the recipe (HERE)

Read on for the recipe -

Preparation Time - 20-25 mins

Ingredients -

• 200 gm button mushrooms
• 1 cup chopped capsicum
• 1 medium sized boiled potato (boiled, peeled & cubed)
• 1 medium sized tomato 
• 1 small onion
• 1/2 inch ginger
• 4-5 garlic flakes
• 1-2 dry red chilli
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1-2 green cardamom
• 1 inch cinnamon stick
• 8-9 cashews
• 3 tsp oil
• 1/3 tsp turmeric
• salt to taste
• coriander for garnishing

Preparation - Clean the mushrooms and cut each one into 4 pieces along the length.

Chop the tomato into small pieces.

Grind the onion, ginger, garlic, red chili, 2/3 tsp cumin seeds, cardamom and cinnamon into a smooth paste using as little water as possible. Keep aside.

Similarly, soak the cashews for half an hour in warm water before grinding them into a smooth paste.

Cooking - Heat the oil in a wok. Add the cumin seeds and allow them to splutter.

Add the onion and spices paste to the wok. Fry lightly till the raw smell just goes off. Add the tomato and cover for 1 minute to allow the tomatoes to soften.

Add the mushrooms, capsicum and potato to the wok. Stir fry on high heat for 3-4 mins till you can see the mushrooms starting to shrink.

Add 1 cup hot water to the wok along with salt and turmeric. Bring to a boil. Cover with a lid and allow to simmer on low flame.

Once the mushrooms are cooked, add the cashew paste and mix well. Allow the curry to simmer for 3-4 mins. Finally garnish with corinader leaves before removing from the flame.

Serve hot or warm.

Paneer Mushroom Korma

Made a special korma for today's lunch. Nothing festive but just felt like cooking something special and that too vegetarian. Quite a challenge as my husband's preference is predominantly non-vegetarian. With no rules to be followed and no expectations being set, I just added a little bit of everything that I could lay my hands upon ( seriously ) and it turned out to be good. Dunno if it can actually qualify as a korma, I wanted to make one but somehow ended up doing a medley of sorts.

Read on for the recipe -

Preparation Time - 45 mins ( plus some time for chopping)

Ingredients -

• 250 gm paneer cubes
• 200 gm button mushrooms ( each cut into four pieces )
• 1/2 cup sweet corn
• 1/2 cup green peas
• 1/2 cup diced carrots
• 1/2 tsp coriander powder
• 1/3 tsp cumin powder
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• 1 1/2 tsp kashmiri chilli powder
• 1/3 tsp garam masala
• 2 tomatoes (freshly pureed)
• 2 tbsp yogurt
• 2 large onions
• 2 tsp GG paste
• 1 tsp (coriander leaves-mint-green chili) paste - this is optional but then i was feeling adventurous 
• 1 whole Kashmiri chili
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 cardamoms
• 3 cloves
• 1 inch cinnamon
• 2 pinch nutmeg powder
• 1 pinch star anise powder
• a strand of mace
• 1 1/2 tbsp kasuri methi
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tbsp melon seeds
• 9-10 cashews (broken ones)
• 3 tsp oil
• 2 tsp ghee/butter
• salt to taste

Preparation - Take one of the onions. Peel and chop it into 4 halves. Transfer to a pressure cooker along with the whole kashmiri chili, 1 cardamom, cinnamon stick, cloves, cashews and melon seeds. Add 2/3 cup water and cook for 2 whistles.

Open lid once steam escapes. Strain the excess water and transfer to a blender. Make a smooth paste. Keep aside.

Finely chop the other onion.

Cooking - Heat 2 tsp oil and 1 tsp ghee in a wok. Add the mace, bay leaf and cardamoms.

Add the onions and fry till light brown in color. Add the GG paste and coriander-mint-green chili paste. Fry till raw smell goes off.

Add the tomato puree along with all the powdered masalas( just keep aside 1/2 tsp chili powder for later). Fry till the oil starts to separate.

Add the mushrooms, carrots, sweet corn and peas. Fry on high flame for 2-3 minutes. Then reduce the flame to medium and cover with lid. Cook for few minutes till mushrooms and carrots are 80 percent cooked. Make sure it is not too watery else turn up the flame to evaporate excess water. Remove from wok and keep aside.

Heat the remaining oil and ghee in the same wok. Add the paste prepared earlier. Saute for a few minutes.

Add chili powder, sugar and kasuri methi ( just rub it between your palms before adding to the wok ). Add 1/2 cup hot water. Bring to a boil and then add the cooked vegetables.

Meanwhile, boil 4 cups water with 1/3 tsp salt and a pinch of turmeric. Add the paneer cubes and boil for 1-2 minutes. Drain off all the water before adding the cubes to the remaining vegetables.

Cover with lid and let everything simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from flame.

Serve hot with roti, naan, paratha or even a simple pulao/white rice.

Note - One can also add some baby corn/tofu/peppers/cauliflower to the above recipe. I had to make do with whatever was available in the fridge. (No mall hopping this weekend as we are getting all the groceries online)