Mushroom 65

I flung open the refrigerator door ........ took a quick glance and banged the door close. Then walked back lazily and picked up the TV remote. Switched on the damn television, Chanel 29 - Food Network. Ina Garten was stirring a whole slab of butter and flour. Looked liked if she had just a day to live she would spend it eating butter. Can one really eat so much butter ...... may be yes but surely not me. Walked back to the kitchen ....... this time opened the fridge door gently. Again stared into it thinking what to prepare. The fridge looked like a black hole to me. Screaming from the kitchen I asked J 'What should I prepare for dinner?' Prompt came the answer, 'Anything that you want to prepare, I am fine'. I murmured to myself ' For that matter I don't want to prepare anything'. Disgusted and confused I picked up this packet of button mushrooms not knowing their fate .... curry/ fry / soup ...... god knows what !! Pull my laptop out and search for mushroom recipes. Plenty of them to confuse me.

Walk back to the kitchen counter and start chopping the mushrooms. How about replacing mushrooms with chicken and trying the recipe for Chicken 65. Well it's my kitchen and I have all the rights to experiment. Sometimes I pity J making him the guinea pig . But isn't marriage all about adjusting . Thankfully not this time. Mushroom 65 was a hit ...... J and I relished it to the last bite.

Moral ......... It's your kitchen so do not fear to experiment ..... especially when you have an adorable husband :-D

Other Interesting incidents during the making of Mushroom 65

J made a 100 trips to the kitchen once the aroma of garlic was in the air. Sometimes he gave me his expert advice on how to prepare mushroom ........ which I didn't follow.

I dished out the mushroom to a plate and hurried to grab the camera. Click Click Click .......photographs look ok ...... not great. Run back to the sofa with this spicy mushroom 65. Dig into it. This time the TV is not switched on for a change. The concentration is 100% on food.

Preparation Time - 30 minutes

Serves - 2

Ingredients

Button Mushroom - 1/2 pound

Minced Garlic - 1 tbsp

Cumin Powder - 1/2 tsp

Red Chilie Powder - 1/2 tsp

Black pepper powder - 1 pinch

Curry Leaves - few

Chili Garlic Sauce - 1/2 tbsp

Corn Starch - 1/2 cup

Salt per taste

Oil for frying

Method of preparation

1 Detach the stem from the mushroom. Cut into four pieces.

2 Make a thick batter of corn starch. Add little bit of salt and red chili powder to it. Dip the mushrooms in this batter. Heat oil and fry the coated mushrooms. Remove to a paper towel and keep aside.

3 In another pan drizzle some oil. When warm add the minced garlic to it. Saute for a minute. Add curry leaves, cumin powder, red chili powder and pepper powder and fry for a minute.

4 Add the fried mushrooms to it and give it a rough stir.

5 Finally add the chili garlic sauce and stir to coat the mushrooms well. If needed sprinkle a little amount of water.Remove to a serving dish.

Serving Tips

Serve warm

Notes

Do not over fry the mushrooms. Make sure the batter is not watery else it won't form a coat on the mushroom.

Variation

You may add spring onions to this recipe.

Other Names

Mushroom 65 - Spicy mushroom fry, Cumin - Jeera,