Mushrooms

[Suvir Saran]

Mushrooms are made quite a lot in northern India.  They are avoided in vegetarian homes for people associate them with meat.  Do not ask me why.. I have heard a hundred different answers.  In fact in my own home, till I was 13, we never ate mushrooms.  But then, my sister got a taste for them and I became lucky for that.  We never stopped eating them after that and now have many recipes in our household using them.  And these are age old recipes.  In fact in Srinagar Club or what used to be called that they made the best Open Toast Mushroom Sandwiches.  These were toasts topped with a spicy preparations of Karahi Mushrooms and it is heaven tasted at every crunchy bite.  Our friend Bindiya whose family fled Srinagar would make  these as evening snacks.  It was nostalgia for her and a feast for the senses for me and our other friends.  In my cook book I will have at least 2-3 recipes with mushrooms.  In my kitchen at home, I make them in innumerable ways.  All Indian and all recipes I learned at home from Panditji, a very conservative Indian chef.  Mind you my father never eats mushrooms. He finds t hem meaty and enjoys looking at us eat them but cannot even fathom tasting one.

[Suvir Saran]

Jinmyo wrote the following in response:

Suvir, this is very interesting. I have never had any other mushroom than Paris/white button mushrooms in Indian cuisine. But surely there must be very many varities that grow. How many are used and in what ways?

Anything you know or discover would make a wonderful thread.

I know that mushrooms are traditonally considered to be unclean in Indian culture because they are associated with the dead and are "tamasic". Just as garlic/leeks/onions can be considered as giving rise to lust in several Indian religious contexts and are "rajasic".

Mushrooms and the lily family such as shallots are among my favourite foods. Anything that occurs to you or anyone would be of interest.

My thanks.

[Suvir Saran]

Button Mushrooms are most common in India.  They can be found in small or large sizes.  And in fact they are considered by most Indians to be the safest mushroom to eat.  There are many stories about food posioning related to mushrooms.  While certainly that can be an issue, I do think some of it comes from the belief that mushrooms are Tamasic as Jinmyo points out.  

Kashmir had a seasonal harvest of Morrel mushrooms.  And these are the prized variety that mushroom eating Indians crave.  They are very expensive.  Short in supply and having dishes with them on a menu brings many compliments to the host.  In fact my partners brother sends us Morrels from their farm in Missouri and I am always transported back to thinking of Kashmir.

While I have seen all other mushrooms we find here in Indian hotels, I am not sure how extensively they are grown or used in India today.  Those in the know, people that love mushrooms certainly know better and enjoy all the kinds one can get.

As for shallots, many Indian chefs prepare making curries with shallots for they have more sugar it is believed and one can use lesser amounts in comparison to onions and get the balance between acid and sweet in sauces.  Shallots are one vegetable that I have seen be larger in India.  Surprising for one normally sees produce there be much smaller in size than what we see in the US markets.

[vivin]

I am not up on all the names of mushrooms available in India but I have seen and tasted quite a few.

Apart from the white button ones that are used in "mixed vegetable" type to dishes to lend flavor and texture, there are several varieties - used fresh or dried. I remember going hunting for wild mushrooms with my relatives on visits to Kashmir. Walk around in early morning fog on the slopes of mountains gathering mushrooms - you could do those things in the valley (amazing when I think about it).

Suvir, I am slated to get a batch of the expensive black fungus when my Dad visits next. Aren't they called just black mushrooms or something like that. Intense flavor.

I think the association with meat is due to texture. I hear you Suvir when you describe whole tandoori mushrooms (a regular on the grill here at the Oberoi/Rao household). When I had my sister taste them for the first time (she turned vegetarian on me a few years ago), she was amazed.

Overall, I think they are used quite often when available in my family/friend circle in Delhi.

[Jinmyo]

When cooking vegetarian meals I almost always have a large mushroom component. It is the "meaty" texture (among other things such as tremendous flavour) that Western vegetarians find so appealing. As I eat meat as well as vegetarian meals I of course don't find them "meaty" at all. Braised short ribs are meaty. Roast joint of lamb is meaty. Meat is meaty.

Tandoori mushrooms sound wonderful as do the mushroom sandwiches. Suvir, what kinds of spices would be used with mushrooms? Is there a matching of mushrooms with creamy sauces?

[Suvir Saran]

Mushrooms are great with creamy sauces.  In my cookbook I have a recipe of mushrooms in a creamy sauce.  A dish as old as Mughal cooking.

In my cooking classes I share the many intricacies of spices with the students and then encourage them to play with spices and as I always say, "entertain spices".  Magic happens when you least expect it.  If you cook with feeling and with attention to your ingredients, the dish will take forms you want it to.  So Jinmyo, with your great talents and your wonderful knowledge of food, you can keep playing and creating endlessly.  I use cumin, coriander, ginger, chilies, carom, fenugreek, mustard, curry leaves, poppy seeds and nigella with mushrooms.  

Vivin.. arent you a lucky man.  Yes they are called Black Mushrooms. And they are intense.  Maybe Vivin can have a dinner for egulleteers when he has these at home.  Kidding.

And yes I have seen mushrooms of many kinds.  If I can take some blame and also credit some to many Indians, it is the lack of labeling things.  We are often very careless and carefree and not always too detailed in our lives. So even as I have seen and eaten and cooked with many mushrooms in India, I have never asked, known, heard and read their names.  Jinmyo, my apologies that I cannot give you names of the types of mushrooms you can find... But let me just say.. they have them in abundance in many forms.  As I was leaving India to come here close to a decade ago, mushroom farms had become the hot trend for society people to have.  Well that can certainly tell you something.

The mushroom toast are amazing.  They are not what we call sandwiches in the west.  These have a saute of large button mushrooms that have been cut in halves and cooked with onions, ginger, garlic, green chilies and tomatoes and cumin seeds, chilies and coriander powder.  The mushrooms are sauteed till the mositure has evaporated from the tomatoes and  then these are topped onto toasts.  Garnished with very finely chopped cilantro and red onions.  Served open face.  

While I love mushrooms.. the one thing I cannot fathom eating is the mushroom steak that so many chefs make for vegetarians.  I find them far from what I would eat as a person that prefers eating vegetarian foods.  They certainly could look like sting ray, but have no flavor and are an apology in the name of cooking in my book.  These are the steaks made from Portebellos.

[Jinmyo]

Suvir, I agree about the portobello steaks. Sliced thinly on the bias after grilling and dipped in shoyu and wasabi they can be nice though.

Fenugreek with mushrooms. That's interesting. Thank you, Suvir.

[Suvir Saran]

Think fenugreek leaves.  Dried if fresh are not available. They work very well with mushroom stir fries.

Thanks for the mushroom steak suggestion.  Sounds great.

[Suvir Saran]

When cooking vegetarian meals I almost always have a large mushroom component. It is the "meaty" texture (among other things such as tremendous flavour) that Western vegetarians find so appealing. As I eat meat as well as vegetarian meals I of course don't find them "meaty" at all. Braised short ribs are meaty. Roast joint of lamb is meaty. Meat is meaty.

Tandoori mushrooms sound wonderful as do the mushroom sandwiches. Suvir, what kinds of spices would be used with mushrooms? Is there a matching of mushrooms with creamy sauces?

I ate Monday night amazing Tandoori Mushrooms at Bukhara Grill.

The size of the white regular grocery store mushrooms was HUGE.

The marinade had the usual mix of hung yogurt, ginger, garlic, turmeric, toasted cumin, cilantro stems, red chile powder, salt, toasted besan flour (chickpea flour) and garam masala. I think they had added very little cheese as well. Baby Gouda works very well.

They were marinated in this marinade for a few hours and grilled in the tandoor. Absolutely wonderful.

Is anyone doing anything summery and spicy with mushrooms?

[Brad S]

Is anyone doing anything summery and spicy with mushrooms?

I love these ideas,

But I guess for lack of a better word I am a purest when it comes to shrooms.

I try to prepare mushrooms in a way that truly bring out thier earthy aromas and deep natural nuiances.

A morel or Chanterel or the rare fresh cepe in my mind needs little adornments and just subtle cooking technique without to much spice

[Suvir Saran]

I am a purest when it comes to shrooms.

I try to prepare mushrooms in a way that truly bring out thier earthy aromas and deep natural nuiances.

A morel or Chanterel or the rare fresh cepe in my mind needs little adornments and just subtle cooking technique without to much spice

I can respect that. I too love mushrooms. But also they really do lend themselves with flavor. Especially the very plain grocery store white ones.. those very simple ones. You know the ones I mean... They have little if any flavor... mostly all meaty.

Spices are a wonderful marriage to their otherwise flat personality. It immediately makes them into a partner that seems a prized companion.

[Brad S]

I am a

Spices are a wonderful marriage to their otherwise flat personality. It immediately makes them into a partner that seems a prized companion.

I agree,white mushrooms are a textual vehical for other more aromatic ingredients.

baba stuffed white shrooms flash fried with a curry laden aioli come to mind

[Suvir Saran]

baba stuffed white shrooms flash fried with a curry laden aioli come to mind

Baba as in Babaganouj?

Wow.. that sounds very tasty. Have you ever made these? Or is it just a creation waiting to take form in your mind?

[Brad S]

Yes to your first question and yes I have made these many times

[Suvir Saran]

baba stuffed white shrooms flash fried with a curry laden aioli come to mind

How would you flash fry the stuffed mushrooms?

What does the curry laden aioli entail?

Any recipe for those of us home chefs that know these things.. but may have never made them at home.. please...

[Brad S]

I roll them in beson flour to hold everything together and fry them in vegetable oil at 375f for about 3 to 4 minutes

[Suvir Saran]

I roll them in beson flour to hold everything together and fry them in vegetable oil at 375f for about 3 to 4 minutes

And you have tried making me believe that you do not know Indian cooking????

WOW! That sounds amazing. You do know that we use besan like that a lot in Indian cooking.

We seldom use egg wash... Besan wash is the choiced way of doing this.

[Suvir Saran]

How do you make the curried Aioli?

[Brad S]

Suvir,

I know very little about Indian cooking.

as for my curry sauce I toast green cardomen,cumin,coriander,mustard seeds and turmeric let it cool and mix it with a bit of yogurt and coconut milk

I then make a basic mayo in the blender with a bit of cooked lentils and add my spice mixture and drizzle in some oil

[spqr]

Maybe it's a little off-topic, but I recently had the pleasure of guiding a young Indian man around town (Springfield, IL) who is doing some computer programming for my agency. It was his first time in the States, and he'd been in-country for only 3 days. He is a vegetarian, and over the course of a week we ate at our one and only Indian place (twice), a Thai place, a Chinese place, Pizza Hut (at his request - seems that there's a Pizza Hut near where he lives in India that he really likes), a Panini shop and, on his last day, a place called Cafe Brio, which is a Mexican/Spanish/Mediterranean-type place. He ordered the grilled portobello sandwich (with mesclun, pesto and cascabal aioli). When it was served, he looked at it and asked me what the mushroom was, thinking he'd been duped into ordering a meat dish. I explained that it was the mushroom, and he said it was the biggest mushroom he'd ever seen. He said he was familiar with the, presumably, button mushrooms that people put on pizza, but he was astounded that mushrooms could grow so big.

[polly]

I then make a basic mayo in the blender with a bit of cooked lentils and add my spice mixture and drizzle in some oil

CC, the lentils in the mayo are intriguing.

Do they get whizzed up to a puree or do you have some texture in it?

[Brad S]

I then make a basic mayo in the blender with a bit of cooked lentils and add my spice mixture and drizzle in some oil

CC, the lentils in the mayo are intriguing.

Do they get whizzed up to a puree or do you have some texture in it?

Hi polly,

They break down quite nice,however they do leave a bit of texture which is very nice.

[polly]

You've got me inspired now. I think i'll make some spicy lentils laced with fresh chilli and raw mustard oil, and mash them into some yoghurt or maybe creme fraiche.

Imagine a blob of that on sauted mushrooms. Earthy, spicy and creamy...