everyday subzi : achari mushroom alu | mushrooms, baby potatoes and baby onions stir fry in pickling spices

Mushrooms make quick and tasty curries and stir fries, they are easy to clean and chop without any special skills and are available almost throughout the year. These qualities make them a frequent appearance in my kitchen and I feel adding some chopped mushrooms to my omelets, egg scrambles, soups, stir fries and even mushroom sauce to coat a meat dish. The most common use of mushrooms is done in the morning rush hours naturally. Mushrooms with spring onions is another favourite in winter season.

Since I cook a lunch box for Arvind in the morning I often end up cooking a variant of pickled mushroom stir fry that he likes well with his roti or paratha. This achari mushroom with paneer I cook when there is no other protein for the lunch box and the one I am sharing now is cooked when there is some rajma or chhole or chicken mince to go inside the lunch box. He avoids non veg with bones for lunch box for obvious reasons.

This achari mushroom uses slightly different spices and the end result is quite different too. There are actually many versions of achari mushrooms and a few of them use tomatoes and tomato puree in it but I like achari mushrooms a bit dry.

ingredients
(2-3 servings)
boiled and peeled baby potatoes, halved  6-8
button mushrooms halved or quartered depending on size 200 gm
baby onions peeled, halved or quartered about 12-14

spice powders 
turmeric powder 1 tsp
red chilly powder 1/4 tsp
Kashmiri chilly powder 1 tsp
ginger powder 1/2 tsp
fennel powder 1/2 tsp
asafotida (hing) powder 1 pinch

lime juice 1 tsp mixed with 4 tbsp water
nigella (kalonji) seeds 1/2 tsp
fenugreek (methi) seeds 1/4 tsp
mustard oil 1.5 tbsp
salt to taste

procedure

Mix the spice powders in lime juice solution along with salt and keep aside.

Heat the oil in a pan and tip in the fenugreek and nigella seeds and let them get aromatic. Take care not to bur them. Now pour the spice mix into it and stir well. Cook till the oil floats on top, it takes about a minute or so.

Now add the quartered mushrooms and stir fry till they start wilting. Add the halved potatoes and keep tossing till they get coated for 2 minutes. Add the baby onion quarters in the last and cook for 2 minutes more.

Take off heat and garnish with fresh chopped green chillies. This achari mushroom alu tastes good either hot or at room temperature. A good test of any achari dish. It keeps well in the fridge for 2 days if it lasts that long.

I make the use of the 2 most ubiquitous ingredients potatoes and onions in this recipe but mushrooms are also almost always there in my fridge. I have to buy mushrooms whenever I see them fresh and I wait for the season when they will be cheap.

Oh and if you have bought too many packs of mushrooms they don't spoil in the fridge. Mushrooms keep well for a week normally but if I buy them in bulk I simply keep a few packs of them cleaned and spread over a bamboo plate inside the fridge. The mushrooms dehydrate this way and last for about a month or more, these fridge dehydrated mushrooms can be re-hydrated quickly and used for any recipe easily.

I am sure you also love mushrooms and if you are looking for recipes other than matar mushroom or kadhai mushroom, I gave you many options in this post. Do try them and let me know if you like. Mushrooms are good for health.

And if you want to be indulgent with mushrooms you can make mushroom manchurian, the indo-chinese fusion we make with button mushrooms occasionally.

achari paneer and mushrooms | paneer and mushrooms stir fried with baby onions in Indian pickling spices

Paneer and mushrooms are consumed quite frequently in my kitchen especially for the lunch box meals that Arvind takes every day. Something that stays tasty even when cold, retains flavours and is not messy to eat. I have served this stir fry to large gatherings too and have found that this is one of those recipes that never fail to impress. For a small serving the cooking time is just about 10 minutes.

This kind of achari stir fries are a great side dish with Indian meals of daal, rice, roti and bharta or salads. It can even be rolled up in a roti or stuffed in a sandwich for a quick meal. Suits me many a times.

ingredients
(2-3 servings)
cubed paneer 200 gm
halved or quartered button mushrooms 100 gm
quartered baby onions 100 gm
whole dry red chilly 1 or as per taste
slit green chilly for granish
turmeric powder 1 tsp
kashmiri chilly powder 1 tsp
crushed ajwain seeds 1/4 tsp
crushed nigella seeds 1/4 tsp
crushed fennel seeds 1/4 tsp
salt to taste
mustard oil 1 tbsp
lime juice 1 tsp

procedure

Make a paste of all the powdered spices in 3 tbsp of water and keep aside.

Heat oil in a kadhai and tip in the spice paste slowly. Let it cook till the oil separates, stirring occasionally for about a minute or so.

Now add the baby onions, mushrooms and paneer in that order and keep stirring it for a few minutes. The ingredients do not need much cooking but the spices should penetrate them, high heat and frequent stirring does the needful.

Finish with lime juice and slit green chillies, add coriander greens if using and serve hot or cold. This stir fry stays well at room temperature for a day and refrigerates well for a week or so.

mushroom manchurian ...indo chinese style

i had promised Anju to post a recipe of mushroom manchurian .....it took me so long to post the recipe though i made it a couple of weeks back.........better late that never and here i am with the yummy recipe.

this time i made the fried version , just for Anju , as she said she loved the dish in her college days so i guess it was served in the restaurants .......i usually skip the frying step and since i love mushrooms in any form i like the low fat version too.........but frying it in hot oil after dipping it in batter makes it really delicious and can be enjoyed once in a while......it is definitely healthier than the restaurants as you use fresh n healthy ingredients............i just hope Anju likes it n finds it similar to the one she enjoyed during her stay in India....

fresh mushrooms make all the difference here but mine were waiting in the fridge for a week.......

they were still in good form so i went ahead....

step 1.

mushrooms are cleaned and halved, and they were tossed with some salt , pepper and red chilly powder ( i normally do not use red chilly powder but the resto's use it so i added just to copy that.....though it's better to avoid red chilly i realized...it's better without them) and some minced ginger and garlic ( i used a tsp of each for 150 gm of mushrooms) ......also when i do not use red chilly powder i add some minced green chillies too ...that gives a nice aroma to it.........

step 2.

in the meanwhile, make a batter by mixing 3-4 tbsp of all purpose flour with salt and pepper , an egg and 1-2 tbsp of water....dip the mushroom pieces into the batter and deep fry in hot oil quickly.........take care that the oil is very hot , drop the mushroom pieces in small batches so that the oil temperature does not drop , and drain the mushroom pieces quickly on kitchen tissue..........this helps in minimizing oil content and it prevents the mushroom pieces from becoming soggy while frying.............you can wrap the fried mushroom in the tissue for a while so that most of the oil is absorbed into the tissue....

step 3.

chop some green chillies finely or in strips...as you like ........if you like it hot , the chillies should be finely chopped or you can have a lot of green chillies...as you like....

and you need minced ginger and garlic...as much s you want.....i used a tbsp of each...
and a big onion sliced finely....

heat a tsp of oil in a pan and throw in the ginger garlic and green chilies and just after a minute throw in the onion slices too......stir and fry on high flame till the onion is translucent....( i use spring onions normally but that is not in season right now.......if using that , the sliced bulbs are added with the ginger garlic and the chopped leaves are added for finishing the dish)...

add 1-2 tbsp of soya sauce and 1-2 tbsp of tomato ketchup ( i use 2 tbsp each) , stir and add a cup of water let it boil and then add 2 tsp of corn flour dissolved in 1/4 cup of water......wait till the sauce becomes thick n boils....throw in all the fried mushrooms ...mix well to coat them with the sauce....

( if you want a little more sauce you can add some more water).....add chopped greens of spring onions and serve immediately.........

it's good with plain boiled rice or noodles or even with roti......
i'll post my healthier low fat version very soon as that is what i make all the time when mushrooms are in season here...........