Chettinadu kaalan kuzhambu/ chettinad mushroom masala

Happy new year 2012 to everyone. 2011 was a wonderful and memorable year for me. My son kk Jr's entry into my world made me a new woman with lots of new hopes and challenges. He is going to be 1year old soon. It just makes me proud when i look back the days as i had several sleepless nights and sweet burdens just like every mother. i thank the Almighty for all His blessings and lessons he taught me through the last six months of my life. It definitely has transformed me into a stronger woman with more courage, more patience and even more pious than before.

I wish i blog more recipes this year and be more active in the blogging world. Coming to the recipe which i am going to post today.. i got really bored with the usual mushroom curries i make for rotis. i wanted it to be more spicy and flavorful. I wanted to cook it in village style. So tried this chettinad style of cooking.

Ingredients

chopped Mushroom 500g

A. To dry roast and grind

cinnamon 1 inch

cloves 2

fennel seeds 2tsp

mace powder 1/2tsp

bay leaves 1

star anise 1

B. To dry roast and grind

coriander seeds 3tbsp

red chilles 3

cumin seeds 2tsp

pottu kadalai 1tbsp

mint/ pudina 8 leaves

black peppercorns 1tsp

C. To fry in oil and grind

Big Onion chopped 1 no

Tomato 1 no

chopped Ginger 1 inch

garlic 5 pods

canola oil/ olive oil 1tbsp

For seasoning

canola oil/ olive oil 1tbsp

mustards 1tsp

curry leaves 6 leaves

Method

• Dry roast all the spice items in the ingredients A list, powder it and keep it aside,
• Dry roast all the items in the ingredients B list, powder it and keep it separately.
• Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a pan and fry onions till it turns golden brown. fry ginger and garlic in it. Finally add chopped tomatoes to it and fry well. Add the powdered ingredients B list i.e. coriander seeds, red chillies, etc to the onion mixture and fry well.
• Now grind the mixture in a blender.
• Again, Heat 1tbsp of oil in a pan and splutter mustard seeds in it along with curry leaves.
• Add the spice powder in A list to it. Fry well. Add chopped mushrooms to it and saute for about 5 minutes. Add the blended onion masala mixture along with some salt to taste to the pan and fry till oil separates from the sides.
• cook for about 5 minutes. Finally add some coriander leaves. serve chettinad mushroom masala with rice or rotis