Mushroom Matar Pulao - Mushroom Peas Rice

Level of difficulty -High

Let me forewarn you - mushroom matar pulao is a complex recipe and does take a while to make. I know it is completely against my food philosophy - keep it simple. However sometimes , it is permissable to complicate recipes a little, when you want to showoff . This blog may feature some labor intensive recipes but I will forewarn you. Sure for this one , you slave in the kitchen for a while but when you taste this recipe, you get the complexity of flavors.

This recipe was a consequence of one of my attempts at Mushroom Biryani, at an international potluck lunch, when I was in grad school. I was supposed to represent Indian food and being the show off I can be, I was devising ways to stun and impress. Well it worked since no one would be rude enough to outrightly condemn my efforts, however I feel that I could have gotten away with much less work, since the audience was'nt used to Indian food at all.

I have made this rice a few times after the event and it is a cross between vegetarian biryani and pulao. Although both are a combination of rice, vegetables, and spices, the difference between the two lies in the cooking techniques. With a vegetarian biryani, you make a concotation of vegetables marinated in curd and other spices, after which you cook the rice with this concotation in alternating layers in a sealed pan. With pulao you cook your rice with vegetables and spices together and instead of layers you get a homogeneous combination of rice and vegetables.

Ingredients

For The Masala Mixture

Blend the following in a blender

4 cloves of garlic
1" fresh ginger
1 cardomom
pinch of cinnamon
2 Tbsp curd ( use the thick part, make sure it is not very watery)
1/2 tspn salt
2 tspn of corander powder
1 tspn haldi
1 1/2 tspn of garam masala
2 green chillies

Other Ingredients

2 packets of cremini mushrooms
1/2 cup of peas
2 cups of basmati rice
1 Tbspn of ghee
chopped coriander leaves

Saute the following in some oil

1 pinch heeng
1 tezpatta
1 laung
1 tspn zeera

1. Once the spices are spluttering add 2 packets of cremini mushroom , cook for 6-7 minutes. ( I prefer cremini to white mushroom because they have a meatier taste)
2. Add 1/2 cup of peas
3. Add the blended masala mixture
4. Cook till the mushrooms are wilted and the masala loses most of its mixture ( around 10 minutes)
5. Add two cups of basmati rice. Saute for a minute so the rice is uniformly coated
6. Add 2 tspns of salt and 4 cups of water. Cook on medium flame.
7. Cover and cook till almost done. and then taste for seasoning and adjust salt if needed. Cook uncovered till done.
8. When done , garnish with 1 tbspn of ghee and 1 cup of choppped coriander.

Serve with cucumber raita