Matar Mushroom Magic

 Mushrooms are low in calories and sugar and packed with nutrition. They are loaded with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants along with vitamin D. Mushrooms are super food for vegetarians as they can be replaced with meat. They do come in lot of variety like crimini, white button mushrooms, portabello, shitake, oyster and lot more. 

Frankly speaking I had never eaten mushrooms growing up in India. I was introduced to them when I came here to US, though my husband devours it as he has been eating them since childhood and so does my elder son. Me and my younger son  not a big fan but we can eat them. 

Today's recipe is matar mushroom magic. I have added paneer to this recipe as paneer makes everything special :) and plus I can pick and eat more paneer than mushroom 😉😀

Just a note that I got my mushrooms from Costco so they were huge.

Ingredients

8 large or 1 regular sized packet white mushrooms

1 small onion chopped 

1 small tomato chopped

1/2 inch ginger grated

2 cloves garlic grated

3/4 cup frozen matar/green peas

1/2 cup cubed paneer

Chopped cilantro for garnish

3 tsp oil to saute mushrooms + 1 tsp more

Masalas

1/4 tsp chili powder or more if you like it spicy

1/8 tsp turmeric powder

1/2 tsp coriander powder

1/2 tsp garam masala

1 tsp Everest kitchen king masala

Salt as per taste

Method

First comes the cleaning part. I don't clean mushrooms with water because they already have high water content. They are like sponge, they will absorb water, so best way to clean them is with wet kitchen towel. Wipe them clean with wet kitchen towel and then chop them into desired size pieces. Just make sure that you have cleaned them thoroughly. I like to cut little bit of woody stem part on bottom and use the rest.

This is an additional step that I do before I make this sabzi. It might seem a little devious but I feel it brings out best taste in mushrooms. Once all the mushrooms are chopped I saute them in batches on high heat in oil to give them nice brown color. Don't  keep on stirring continuously let them get little brown here and there. 

Because of sauteing all the water is evaporated and we get this nice dry sabzi. 

Once this step is done lets start making our matar mushroom sabzi.

Heat oil in the same pan, once it's hot add chopped onions and grated ginger and garlic. Saute until translucent and light brown.

Add coriander powder, chili powder and turmeric powder and saute until you get aroma of all the spices, couple of minutes. 

Next throw in chopped tomatoes and saute until slightly mushy. Add frozen peas and cook them for 2/3 minutes. 

Now add previously sauteed mushroom, cubed paneer and mix everything until well combined. Add salt, garam masala and kitchen king masala and mix well. Add chopped cilantro for garnish and is ready to serve! 

Notes-: If possible do not skip the mushroom sauteing part, I promise you won't 

regret doing this extra step. Once this step is done rest of the procedure is 

very quick and simple and this sabzi is ready in no time.