Who Pickled my Mushrooms ???

This blog is slowly becoming a one post a month thing and let me assure everyone that it is not by design. 2008 has been fairly busy with the new arrival, travel, work pressures and family commitments. I just returned from a 7 day trip to Chennai and am still recovering from the Simbly Southern experience. I will write more about it alongwith photographs in my next post.Also, there are some interesting posts that I received from readers to put up on my blog that will soon find a mention in the coming few days.

Continuing my affair with mushrooms, I tried out another dish with the mushrooms, something that you find commonly done with Potatoes. Yes, I tried doing a 'Achari' thing with them and they came out absolutely finger licking. As I was in the process of making the Achari Khumb, the idea of doing a 'Dum' came up. Contrary to opinions and fears, doing a Dum is fairly easy and does not require a rocket science knowledge of culinary arts. Translated to English, Dum means to cook in its own steam. Voila, ensure the pot is sealed, so that the steam does not escape and the food is cooked on a slow fire till its done.
All in all, the dish was fairly easy to make and the best part, it was liked by one and all in the family.

Dum Achari Khumb ( Pickled Mushrooms cooked in their own steam/juices - The Dum Way)

Ingredients
Mushrooms, cleaned and cut into squares - 200 gm
Onions, finely chopped - 1
Ginger-Garlic Paste - 20 gm
Fenugreek Seeds - 5 gm
Nigella Seeds ( Kalonji) - 10 gm
Mustard Seeds - 10 gm
Peppercorns, freshly crushed - 10 gm
Red Chilli Powder - 5 gm
Mustard Oil - 50 ml
Yoghurt - 1/2 cup
Tomato Paste - 1/2 Cup
Salt - To Taste

Method:
1. Heat Oil. Add in the Mustard Seeds. As soon as they crackle, add in the nigella seeds & the fenugreek seeds.
2. Add the Onion paste alongwith the ginger-garlic paste. Cook till they turn translucent.
3. Add in the mushrooms andcook them for 5 minutes.
4. Add in the red chilli powder,salt and peppercorns, followed by the tomato paste. Cook for 3 minutes.
5. Add whisked yoghurt slowly into the already cooking mixture and stir well to mix everything up.
6. Cover and seal the pan. Let it cook on a slow flame for 10 minutes. ideally, put a tawa on the slow flame, and put the sealed pot on top of the tawa. This will prevent the dish from over cooking (read burning) and sticking to the bottom.
7. After 10 minutes, take the pan off the flame and remove the seal. Mix well and serve garnished with ginger juliennes or a sprig of corriander.

Note:
1. Do not cook the fenugreek seeds too much or add too much of fenugreek seeds or they will turn the dish bitter.
2. To seal the pan, make a basic dough and roll it out into a long snake shape. Cover the dish with this dough and press to seal. To read more about the art of Dum cooking read this article. FYI, the guy shown in the article is Chef Irfan . I have had the pleasure or good fortune of working with his father, often regarded as the father of Dum cooking or the person who bought the dum cooking to the masses, Chef Imtiaz Qureshi.
3. If you are feeling extra experimental. try adding some hot coals on top of the sealed dish while it is on the flame.

Posted in: Dum Cuisine,North Indian Cuisine,vegetarian dishes