Intensely Flavorful Mushroom Pulao

I think that a person's reactions to things change with age, at least mine sure does. I used to be very emotional when I was much younger and then when through a more sober phase, and I seem to be back to my old ways.
I seem to gush and cry over everything again. Interestingly enough, both my children have rather different temperaments. So my daughter who is rather pragmatic like her dad, is never quite sure what to make of this, on the other hand my son actually fuels and adds to the drama. In fact, he calls me, "my beautiful mother". Well, I have been orcilating between high and emotions the past week. I have a little project on the way - a cookbook. It is much my kind of a project, being published by a very local boutique publisher, it allows me a lot of creative room to do more than share my recipes. There is some element of fear and nervousness at putting my recipes, "out there" more formally, but then again you have to try something at least once...
So, readers of this blog will be possibly listening to more stories about the book. If you really want to follow the countdown, do stop by the facebook page, The Contemporary Indian Table and become a fan.
Now down to the recipe, this simple pulao, is an ode to cumin and of course lovely lush mushrooms. It is amazing how much flavor a few small ingredients can produce.

Mushroom pulao with cashew nuts

Prep Time: 3-4 minutes
Cook Time: 27 minutes
Serves 4 people

Ingredients

1 tablespoon ghee
1 tablespoon oil
1.5 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 onion, cut into a dice
1/2 teaspoon powdered cumin
3 pods cardamom
1 cup thickly sliced button mushrooms
1.5 cups of white basmati rice
2 3/4 water
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup dry roasted cashew nuts
Red pepper flakes (optional)

Method of Preparation

1. Heat the ghee and the oil and add in the cumin seeds and cook for about 30 seconds till the cumin sizzles becomes very aromatic.
2. Add in the onion and cook for 7-8 minutes, till the onion softens, wilts and begins to turn golden. If you love cumin and onions as much as I do, you will simply do this step just to savor the fragrance of these two ingredients cooking together.
3. Add in the powdered cumin, cardamoms and the mushrooms and cook for another minute.
4. Add in the basmati rice and mix gently.
5. Add in the water and the salt and bring the water to a boil, let it simmer and cover and cook on medium heat for 18 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave covered for another 5 minutes.
6. If you do not have roasted cashew nuts, place the raw cashew nuts on a skillet and lightly roast them till they turn very lightly golden at spots. This process enhances the flavor of the nuts.
7. Remove the cover and stir in the nuts, sprinkle with red pepper flakes if desired and serve either alone or as a side.

Egg Masala with mushrooms!

Still savoring the remains of fall, the past few weeks have been rather stressful at work - feeling the sharp impact of the times. I have been trying hard not to let the impact get me down just before thanksgiving.

Well, a few nights back, I made a very simple curried egg version. Actually, much simpler than the Dimer Dalna, that some people liked a lot. It is different but nice as well. It would make for a good brunch dish, or really anytime of the day!
We actually had it for dinner over rice.
Egg masala with mushrooms

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Serves 4 people

Ingredients

2-3 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
6-8 shallots, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon grated ginger
2-3 pods of garlic, minced
4-6 minced green chillies
8-10 curry leaves
1 teaspoon curry powder
3-4 tomatoes, quartered
1 teaspoon salt
6-8 boiled eggs halved
1-2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup chopped mushrooms
1-2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Method of Preparation

1. Heat the oil and add the cumin and mustard seeds.
2. When the mustard begins to pop, add in the shallots, ginger and garlic and cook lightly till soft and transluscent. This takes about 5-6 minutes.
3. Add in the chillies, curry leaves, curry powder, tomatoes and salt cook till the tomatoes are soft and a light gravy is formed.
4. Lightly fold in the eggs and stir in the vinegar.
5. Heat the butter and saute the mushrooms until the mushrooms are soft, this takes 3-4 minutes.
6. Stir in the mushrooms and cilantro and serve immediately!

A nice dark beauty!

I had been meaning to try this dish out for a while, when I saw this recipe, I was even further encouraged. Well this was an amazingly luscious sauce, but it takes a lot of time. Well, Katie said she tinkered with the recipe, I tinkered some more, but generally was pretty good, by my standards. This is how I did it.

Ingredients
To marinate
1 whole chicken skinned and jointed ( I just cannot use skin other than with roast chicken)
1 tsp rosemary
3 carrots thickly sliced
2 tsp salt
1 bottle wine (I used a modest burgundy)
1 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup chopped parsely
6 cloves garlic
A few bay leaves

For the finishing sauce
3 tbsp butter
6 shallots thickly sliced
10 oz button mushrooms thickly sliced
2 zuchinis thickly sliced with the skin (Hey, that's pretty french)
1.5 tbsp cocoa
1 tbsp cornstarch

Method of preparation
1. Soak the chicken in the marinade overnight in the refrigerator.
2. Cook for 1 hour on a simmer the next day.
3. Cool, slightly and remove the chicken.
4.Strain the sauce.
5. Put a half cup aside and disolve the cocoa and cornstarch.
6. Melt the butter, add the shallots and cook till turning golden (this takes about 15 minutes.)
7. Add the mushrooms and zucchini and cook for another 5 minutes.
8. Add the strained sauce and bring to a boil, mix in the cocoa mixture and add the chicken.
9. Cook for 7 minutes till thickened.
10. Serve with anything that will absorb this wonderful sauce.

Well, since this is the result of patrolling other blogs and is from France at some point of time, I am sending this off for an interesting event being hosted by Coffee who actually is encoraging folks to blog partrol.
This is an incredible busy time and since my doctor has ordered "off the feet for a few more days" I am double dipping and sending this off to David Lebovitz for Sugar High Friday. I used Ghiradelli. I actually am not much of a chocolate person, I do white chocolate, I do not think that really counts, but I did read David's chocolate book, since I like reading cookbooks.

Mushroom Soup with Roast Garlic, Ginger and Barley

Today is such a rainy day, it is one of those days meant to be enjoyed with a classic cup of soup. I tried working with this bag of pearl barley that I had stashed away in my closet for weeks and I think I liked the results. I loved the rich buttery taste and the dense flavor of mushrooms. I tried roasting the ginger with the garlic and loved the results.

Mushroom Soup with Roast Garlic, Ginger and Barley

Serves 4 people

Ingredients

1 Head of a small garlic
2 inch piece of ginger peeled
1 tbsp olive oil
16 oz white mushrooms
2 red potatoes cooked in their jackets
1 forelle pear peeled and quartered
1/2 cup yogurt or sour cream
1/3 cup pearl barley
6 tbsp butter
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp powdered mustard
20 shallots thinly sliced
4 cups of stock
Salt to taste
1 cup parsely or cilantro

Method of Preparation

1. Heat the oven to 400 F.
2. Cut the tops of the garlic and drizzle the garlic and ginger with oil.
3. Place in a garlic roaster and cook for 35 minutes.
4. Slice 1/4 or the mushrooms and set aside.
5. In a blender, place the remaining mushrooms, pears, potatoes and yogurt.
6. Peel the garlic and add to the blender with the ginger and process to a puree.
7. Pressure cook the barley for 15 minutes with 1 cup of stock.
8. Heat half the butter and cook the shallots till soft.
9. Add the puree and cook for 20 minutes till this mixture begins to stick to sides of the pot.
10. Mix in the chilli, mustard and salt with the stock and barley.
11. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer and cook for 25 minutes.
12. In the meantime saute the remaining mushrooms with a little butter.
13. Mix into the soup and stir well.
14. Remove from the heat and stir in the parsley or cilantro and serve.

Note: A touch of fresh rosemary would also be a great accent to this dish.