Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Mushroom Pepper Chili (It's Delicious!)



 You have no idea, how much have I fallen in love with this dish! Mushrooms have become the star guest on the grocery list, ever since this was made for the first time in my kitchen. And you know you like it a lot when you have already eaten most of it from the plate and still trying to go for the last piece (even though you know the other person wants it as bad.) J

And you will know why I am raving so much about this once you make it too. If you love Indo-Chinese food, go, get the mushrooms NOW! J . I am not sure if the exact same dish is served in restaurants, but I do know chilly paneer, chili chicken are similar in some ways.  But quite frankly, this beats them all. For one, it tastes good, second – it’s super healthy. Seriously, give it a try!

I write too much, cause I love sharing the story behind every dish/ recipe. And each time I try to just move on to the recipe, I recollect what else I wanted to share. J . Ok this recipe happened purely because one of my vegetarian friends told me that he eats this mushroom recipe at some place in Bangalore and it’s called Pepper Mushroom and raved a lot about it. And the name sounded so fascinating that I just made something assuming what 'could' it be like. So never know, I could be horribly wrong in replicating that recipe, but it sure does work for me!! J

And one last bit. I usually share recipes with my friends to get their reactions/feedback before posting here. And one of my very good friends/ critics, Shaan had this to say:

“Truly a great dish...esp if u love indo-Chinese cuisine! Pls pls post this and help poor souls like us..:-) we are enjoying it with d-coke! I added all three types of peppers as well...”

You need: (should serve 3 but with me around, it’s good for 2 only!)

Button Mushrooms – 8 Oz or 250 grams
Cornflour – 3 Tbsp
Rice Flour – 1 Tbsp (for crunch)
Salt – to taste
Pepper – about a tbsp. (fresh coarse ground)
Oil – about 2 tsp (can use more if no restriction J )
Ginger – 1 tsp grated, ½ inch cut into juliennes.
Garlic paste– 1 tsp
Onion – 1 no. medium (fine chopped)
Onion – ½ medium size (with layers cut into square shape)
Long green chilies – 5-6nos. (the variety that has absolutely no heat, slit them)
Small green chilies – 1-2 nos (slit and seeds removed, adjust to taste)
Capsicum/ Bell Peppers – 1 Nos (cut into squares, can use colored peppers too)
Dark Soya Sauce – 1 Tbsp
Vinegar – 1 Tbsp
Tomato Ketchup – 1 Tbsp
Lemon Juice – 1 tsp  (optional)
Spring Onion – only green part cut into 1 inch pieces (optional)

  1. Dunk the mushrooms in hot water for a minute and run under cold water and decant all water. Let the mushrooms remain a little moist so that the flour mixture sticks well to the mushroom.
  2. In a bowl, mix cornflour, rice flour, a 2-3 pinches of salt, and about a 1tsp of ground pepper and mix well. 
  3. Now coat all mushrooms with the flour mix. I usually coat them well once and wait for a few min and repeat the process with the remaining flour that didn’t stick the first time. This helps as the first layer soaks all the moisture and then second layer sticks even better but will be a little dry-ish adding to the crunch.. 
  4. In a wide non stick pan, add about 1 tsp of oil and pan fry the mushroom on medium high and then on low flame to make it crispy. Pan should be wide enough so that mushrooms have space to fry well, else the moisture will make them soft instead. And if you are generous with oil, you don’t have to worry about all this. J
  5. Transfer the mushrooms to a plate once they are brown from all sides.
  6. Also fry squarish shaped layers of onion pieces and the bell peppers (typically the kinds u get in chinese gravy) in the same pan and transfer to another bowl.
  7. In the pan add remaining 1 tsp of oil. 
  8. Add grated ginger and garlic paste and fry well. 
  9. Now add fine chopped onions and slit green chilies both big and small. Fry till onions get translucent. 
  10. Now add soya sauce, tomato ketchup and vinegar. Fry till a little dry.
  11. Now add mushrooms, onions, bell peppers, ginger juliennes and give a quick stir and add the remaining freshly ground pepper.
  12. And if you are adding the greens of spring onions, do it now. 
  13. Serve on a nice looking plate and squeeze lime if you wish to add some zing!

 *I sprinkle very little, ready ‘very little’ water after I coat the mushroom with flour mixture the first time. This helps more flour stick to mushrooms. But be careful to not make it gooey.
**You can always be generous with oil while frying mushrooms. And infact mushrooms taste very good even as simple stir fry like this.
***If you are not sure about the tang bit, try squeezing lime juice on a small portion only. Only then on the rest if you like.
****The black pepper quantity can be adjusted to suit your liking.
*****I feel this recipe will work well with paneer and boiled potatoes too.