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WILD MUSHROOM & HALLOUMI MASALA
A few folk asked how I made the wild mushroom & halloumi curry I brought to a recent community weekend away, so (whilst writing down this slightly made-up creation for myself to have again in future) I thought I’d share it here too in case you fancy having a go yourselves! ♡
I added fungi I’d foraged, including aniseed funnels which helped give it a slightly licoricey flavour as well as the wild fennel seeds, but if you don’t have foraged fungi to hand, you can buy ‘exotic’ cultivated mushrooms (such as maitake, eryngii, enoki, beech caps and king oysters) in the supermarket too, or just use ‘normal’ ones (portobello, oysters, chestnut, flat white or buttons) it’ll still be great! The method is the same…
I used the linked mushroom paneer masala recipe as the basis of my dish (right at the bottom of this post). It’s #vegan except for the halloumi/paneer cheese so you can simply leave that out if needing #dairyfree. But here’s exactly what I did to make my curry. Enjoy! xx
#foraging #wildfood #fungi #curry #vegetarian #meatfree #glutenfree #recipe #mushroom #paneer #halloumi #masala #recipeideas #food #cooking #meatfreemonday
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WILD MUSHROOM & HALLOUMI MASALA
Serves 4
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Ingredients for the masala paste:
2 tablespoons oil (cooking not extra virgin)
1 large onion (chopped) (about 120g)
½ tin chopped tomatoes (drained in a sieve, keep the juice aside) or chop fresh tomatoes (about 120g of good tomato flesh not the seeds etc, drain in a sieve, keep the juice aside)
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
1 teaspoon chopped ginger
2 tablespoons toasted cashews (needn’t be perfect as they’re getting blitzed up later)
3 to 4 tablespoons drained tomato juice (for grinding) or use water
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Ingredients for the mushroom curry:
1 tablespoon oil
1 small to medium bay leaf
½ teaspoon caraway seeds (or cumin seeds will do)
¼ teaspoon black mustard seeds (wild or bought)
½ teaspoon fennel seeds (I used wild ones)
¼ teaspoon red chilli powder (I used mild chilli powder, add to your taste though) or add peppery bolete powder?
¼ teaspoon black pepper powder (inc a pinch of ground alexanders seed if you want)
1 cup water (or tomato juice if any left over)
salt as required
¼ teaspoon garam masala powder
¼ teaspoon hogweed seed powder (optional or omit)
¼ teaspoon dried fenugreek leaves (or I used dried curry leaves… you could maybe use dried coriander etc or just omit)
100g toasted cashews (whole or large pieces)
2 sprigs of fresh coriander (chopped) (optional) or use a wild herb e.g. cow parsley if you know what you’re doing with umbellifers!
200 grams paneer (but I used halloumi!!) or omit for vegan/dairy-free
200 grams mushrooms (I used foraged wild oysters, hen-of-the-woods, dried winter chanterelles, dried trumpets of death, aniseed funnels, various wild agaricus caps & shop-bought baby portobellos for this particular time as feeding 50 people but I use whatever I had foraged at the time, any edible mushrooms will work!)
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Preparation
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Clean the fresh mushrooms (if needed) by wiping with a damp cloth or brushing any bits off (I personally wouldn’t wash or soak mushrooms as they sponge up tons of water and become tasteless). Remove any tatty bits or tough stalks etc depending on species esp for wild ones. Then pull the caps apart into natural segments e.g. for oysters or slice/chop the mushrooms into nice segments for agarics e.g. portabello or flat mushrooms. If using any dried mushrooms pop these in a little warm water to rehydrate. Keep aside, including any mushroom rehydration water as stock for later.
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Peel & chop onion into smallish pieces. Mince/crush/grate or finely chop the garlic and ginger. Chop tomato if using fresh, or measure out if tinned, and place in a sieve to drain, catching the juice in a jug for later. Keep toms & juice aside.
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Put your total amount of cashews in a dry frying pan & toast them if you haven’t already. Toast enough for the paste (200g) and to add some whole to the finished curry as well (at least 100g). Pick out the best whole ones to have in the finished curry, any broken bits can go in the paste. Weigh out and keep both amounts aside.
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Making the masala paste
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Heat 2 tablespoons of oil & sauté the chopped onion on a low-to-medium flame until the onion starts turning golden. Keep the lid on between stirrings and be patient, we want soft sweet onion not hard-fried crispies so they’re best cooked slowly.
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Then add the chopped ginger, garlic and sauté until the raw aroma of both ginger and garlic goes away.
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Next add the chopped tomatoes and 2 tablespoons of toasted cashews, choose any broken ones etc, keeping nice whole ones for the final dish:)
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Mix very well and begin to sauté the tomato-onion mix on a low flame. If the tomatoes start sticking to the pan, then you can sprinkle some tomato juice you saved earlier (or use water). Keep stirring and continue to sauté until the tomatoes soften very well. Switch off flame and let this onion-tomato mixture to cool down a bit.
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Then take this mixture in a grinder jar, big pestle & mortar or blender/small food processor.
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Add 3 to 4 tablespoons tomato juice/water and grind to a smooth paste. Keep aside.
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Making the mushroom masala curry
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Heat 1 tablespoon oil in the same pan (only rinse pan out if any burnt bits on sides etc) on a medium heat. Add the bay leaf, ½ teaspoon caraway seeds (or cumin) and ½ teaspoon (wild) fennel seeds
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Fry until the seeds splutter and pop, releasing their aromatic compounds into the oil, go slowish, taking care not to burn them.
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Now add the chopped fresh mushrooms & any dried ones (dehydrated, strained & keep the stock aside). Mix them well & sauté them on a low flame stirring often. The fresh mushrooms will release water when cooking. Continue to saute stirring often until all the water dries up. Then turn up the heat and brown the edges of the mushrooms, adding a touch more oil if they stick, the entire mixture should be dry before you turn the heat back down & proceed to the next step.
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Now add ¼ teaspoon red chilli powder and ¼ teaspoon black pepper powder. Mix very well.
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Now add the smoothly ground onion-tomato-cashew masala paste and mix very well.
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Sauté, stirring non-stop for 4 to 5 minutes.
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Then add 1 cup (250ml) of liquid… use the mushroom rehydration liquor (if using any dried fungi), the tomato juice you stained off (if any left) and/or just warm water and mix again very well.
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Season with salt, mix, and adjust to your taste until happy with the seasoning level.
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On a low flame let the curry sauce just come to the boil.
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Then add ¼ teaspoon garam masala powder and ¼ teaspoon dried fenugreek leaves or dried curry leaves (crushed). Mix again well.
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Now add 200g halloumi (or paneer) chopped in cubes or squares and the remaining 100g whole, toasted cashews
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Mix very well and simmer for a few seconds just to warm the cheese cubes through.
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Remove from heat and add 1 tablespoon chopped fresh coriander leaves (optional, I didn’t add these to mine as I’m not a fan).
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The base online recipe I adapted:
. #wprm-recipe-container-168957″ target=”_blank”>https://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/mushroom-paneer-masala-recipe/ #wprm-recipe-container-168957
