Dhingri Badami

This is a recipe I had written on a piece of paper and had it tucked away from sight at the back of my kitchen drawer for god knows how long. One good thing about this blog is now I can catalog this and throw away this scrape of paper. However, I find that I am still holding on to these scrapes. There is something about seeing my hurried writing, little corrections and comments I have made on the page and the oil or turmeric stains, that tells the whole behind-the-scenes picture. Something that I will never be able to capture on the blog.

Anyway , what I wanted to say was that this recipe, although adapted a little by me, is not mine, however I do not know to whom I should credit it too. But to whomsoever it belonged, I would like to say thank you for such a delicious recipe.

Ingredients
1 pkt / 10 oz / 283 gm button mushrooms ( if they are big in size, halve them, if they are small, leave them just as they are )
2 tbsp cooking oil
1/2 tsp cumin seeds / jeera seeds
2 bay leaves, dried
2-3 inch cinnamon stick
5-6 cloves / lavang
3-4 green cardamom pods / whole elaichi
1 big red onion, finely chopped
3 tbsp tomato paste  or  3 tomatoes, pureed
1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
1 1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp turmeric powder / haldi powder
1 tsp mirchi powder
2 tbsp heaped almonds, powdered
2 tbsp heavy whipping cream
1/2 tbsp kasturi methi
2 tbsp chopped cilantro
1 cup of water.
salt, to taste


Method

• Heat the oil in a large saucepan. When hot, add the bay leaves, cinnamon stick, cloves and cumin seeds. It will start to sizzle and change color. When that happens, add the onions and ginger-garlic paste. Saute till the onions turn light brown and then add the garam masala. Mix it in with the onions.
• Next goes in the turmeric, red chili powder and the tomato paste. Mix it well together and let it all fry for a minute or so.
• Add the button mushrooms, almond powder and 1 cup of water. Cover and cook till the mushrooms are all cooked. About 10-15 minutes on medium low heat.
• Once the mushrooms are done, mix in the cream,kasturi methi and salt. Stir it all together. Turn the heat source to low and let it sit on the stove for another 5 minutes. Sprinkle with the chopped cilantro. Remove from heat. Serve warm with your favorite naan ot roti.