Mushroom Quiche

Quiche is an open faced savoury pie.  The filling of quiche is savoury custard and cheese along with meat, seafood and vegetables filling.  The flavour is derived from the filling and the type of cheese used.   They can be had both cold or warm, though I found them best when warmed. 

  Pie pan is first lined with pastry crust, that is blind-baked,  and then  followed by cheese, filling, custard and finally topped by cheese.  The custard filling is heavy cream whisked with eggs.  Ratio of cream and eggs is 2:1 (ie for every ½ cup of cream, you should add ¼ cup of whisked egg).  After baking, quiche gives out an aromatic smell throughout the place and  was very light and fluffy when tasted. 

My second filling, was vegetarian choice.   I used mushroom along with spring onions.  You can use mushroom with palak or spinach with corn.  Any vegetarian filling is fine, as long as it gets cooked well before stuffing into quiche. 

 I tried yellow(mature)  cheddar cheese in this quiche.  This yellow cheddar had an dominating aroma, and quiche was like an cheesy explosion J  You can also try other varieties like gouda, mozzarella etc.  All thanks to Swathi Iyer from Baking partners group, for initiating this wonderful challenge.  

For making 8-inch Pastry crust and Blind baking, please refer  here

For the  Mushroom and Spring onion filling:

You will be needing

For the filling

•         1 tbspn butter
•          ¼ cup of sliced shallots
•          ¼ cup of sliced spring onion bulbs
•          1 tsp finely chopped ginger
•          1 tsp finely chopped garlic
•          Salt, to taste
•          Pinch of haldi/turmeric powder
•          ½ tsp chilly powder
•          1 tsp dhanya powder
•          175 gm of finely sliced mushrooms
•          1 cup finely chopped spring onions (green part alone)

For the custard

•          ½ cup Amul fresh cream
•          1 large egg
•          ½ tsp of chilly powder
•          ½ tsp of pepper
•          Salt, to taste

Others

•          75 grams of cheddar cheese

Add butter to the pre-heated tawa, this is followed by adding shallots and spring onion bulbs.  Saute them for an minute, add finely chopped ginger and garlic.  Add all the spices.  

Add our sliced mushrooms and sauté till they coat the spices.  Add the spring onion greens , simmer the flame and cover the pan, cooking for 20 more minutes till the mushrooms are perfectly cooked and the filling becomes dry.  

Cool the filling, keep aside. 

Grate the cheddar cheese, keep aside.

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degree Celsius. 

For the custard, open the amul fresh cream pack.  Do not shake.  Separate the liquid contents from the pack and use the cream part.  This is done because we need an heavy cream for quiche and amul has an low fat content, so separating its cream would enhance the fat content and hence is done.  The liquid part can be used in cooking purpose, like you can add them in curry, kheer etc.  

In an large bowl,  add ½ cup of cream part (from amul cream), one large egg, chilly powder and salt.  Whisk them, till they are completely dissolved.  

Final Assembly:

Take the blind-baked pie crust and sprinkle them with cheddar cheese at the bottom.  

This is followed by our prepared filling.  

Pour in the custard and top with  the remaining cheese.

Bake them for 35 minutes or till the filling is firm.  

Mushroom quiche was dominated by cheddar cheese aroma, and tasted delecious.

Linking this to Baking partners, run by Swathi Iyer

KHUMB DOPYAZA - Mushrooms cooked in double onion masala

   'Dopyaza' meaning for double onion masala, actually originated when an cook (from Mughals), accidentally added lots of onions into mutton curry.  This  dish was much favoured by the kings, and hence the name originated.  For such an delicate curry, and an blessing for onion-lovers, why can't we drag them around and play with our veggies ;) Yes, they paired up excellantly with mushrooms and my other half couln't be happier than that. (I, really wasn't surprised, for an man who loves to eat raw onions, cooked ones must have pleased far...)

Onions, at first, used for usual sauting and  finally used as an garnish too (garnishing ones were deep-fried).  Apart from accompanying spices like black cardamon, bay leaf, cloves and peppercorns, they also pair with souring agent (curd/mango/tomato puree).  So, let us move to this delecious curry at once.  

Kadaai khumb

     Mushroom always has an special reserved place at my refrigerator :)  I buy them often, atleast once an week.  This is because both hubby and daughter are mushroom lovers, they love in any form.  I made this kadaai khumb one day for dinner and I must say it was appetizing, palatable and melted easily with rotis/parathas. 

 

As goes with all kadaai gravy, I made them with cashewnut paste and cream.  This is an rich gravy, and also has green peas with them.  If you prefer it milder, you can add almond paste/putane dal paste instead of cashew paste. Also instead of cream, milk can be added.  This, is derived from Punjabi cuisine, where lots of dairy products are used. 

 

 

You can also try other mushroom recipes here like Mushroom stir-fry, Mushroom theeyal, Malvani khumb curry, Khuskhuswali khumb, Laal khumb, Mushroom dopyaza, Mushroom jalfrezi. 

 

Spaghetti with meat sauce

  Spaghetti is thin, long pasta from Italy.  Here, I used dried form of spaghetti packet, made of wheat durum semolina.  Spaghetti is topped usually with tomato sauce, with herbs like basil and oregano.  Here, I used meat sauce and the result was awesome.  The basic sauce, I used was Maggi's instant pasta sauce.  If you want an home-made one, click here

 

Since, this was my first Italian association, I followed each steps carefully.  These spaghetti were a bit denser than our instant noodles.  I cooked them till they were completely done and it went good with sauce.  They were heavy on stomach. One bite topped with sauce was completely heavenly.  I added both meat and vegetables here, vegetarians can replace the same amount of meat with additional mushrooms.

 

WORLD DIABETES DAY - November 14th 2013

   Hi all, this day,  November14th is observed as World Diabetes day.  When  Swathi , highlighted this importance and announced the event, I can barely resist myself from joining.  Thanks to her, this event made me go through a lot of learning process and know more about Diabetic diet.  So, with no more delay, I present you two diabetic-friendly dish topped with brief description.

 

 

 

What is Insulin?

Our body cells needs energy in order to perform all our physical tasks.  And this energy is available in form of glucose/sugar that floats freely in our blood.  But our body cells won't easily grab them or digest them.  They need some hormone to help/intake the glucose available, just like my kid, Varsha who wants food, but needs Mommy to feed her :D .  So, this mommywali help is done by Insulin, an hormone secreated by Pancreas.  Insulin helps cells to digest the glucose so that your body cells becomes active and carries on all activities.

What is Diabetes?

    Just imagine your body cells when  not enough Insulin is created, or when Insulin is not recognized by them.  The amount of glucose/sugar stays as such, and increases everytime you have your food.  This results in high level of glucose in blood or  high blood sugar.  This condition is called as Diabetes mellitus. 

Complications

So, when blood sugar increases, there is an urge for blood cells to feed/ to consume, where will they go??  Some try to utilize fat content available as energy source while some degenerate.  Such degeneration of cells throughout they body may lead to severe complications like Heart-attack, Paralysis, Dementia (loss of memory), Blurred vision, Loss of weight, Increased thirst, Frequent urination and other gastric-oriented problems like Nausea, Vomitting etc

No Direct cure

Since there is no direct cure, an diabetic patient must restore to all three preventive measures, given below.

• As key effect, degeneration of blood cells should be prevented.   Medication plays its part here and homeopathic medicines have also shown to have good remedy.

•  Alternatively, body sugar levels must also be controlled.  This is helped by physical exercise.

•  Following an diet with high-fibre, low-fat/cholestrol is also important since this disease may lead to cardio-vascular problems.

Diabetic Diet

Diabetic diet is filled with whole grains(wheat, oats, barley, maize, brown rice, millet etc), fresh fruits, vegetables.  Here, I am going to make two dishes, which are diabetic-friendly in order to highlight this event.  They are Barley vegetable soup & Barley topped fruit salad. 

Barley vegetable soup

Ingredients required are 1/2 tsp amul 'light' butter, 3-4 garlic pods sliced, 1 cup of finely chopped vegetables like  Onions, Mushrom, Carrot, Palak (spinach), 1/2 cup of Barley pearls soaked for 3-4 hours, Salt & Pepper, to taste.

Heat butter in pan, add garlic slices and sauté till they brown.  Add onions and other vegetables and sauté well.  Wash the soaked barley and add in pan. 

 

Add 1 cup of water and pressure cook for single whistle. 

 

Season them with salt and pepper, serve hot!

 

 

Barley topped fruit salad

 

Ingredients required are 1/2 cup of barley, soaked for two hours, 2 cups of chopped fruits like Apple, Papaya, Kiwi, Banana, 2 orange deskinned de-seeded and separated to segments, 1/2 cup of pomegranate seeds, 1 tbspn of lime juice, 1 tsp of chaat masala.

 

Wash the soaked barley seeds, cook them on stove-top with one cup of water.  As you will notice, barley will absorb water and turn soft after it gets cooked.   

 

 

In a large bowl, add chopped fruits, pomegranate seeds, barley pearls, lime juice, chaat masala.  Mix well, finally fold in orange segments. 

 

 

Serve them chilled. 

 

 

Happy cooking!!!  :)

 

 

  

 

Kalaan rasam - Mushrooms curried in south-Indian rasam style

There are rarely a very few vegetables that become central to all  food.  On this very few, Mushroom tops all.  Be it an pizza topping, fried rice or our style gravy, this divine fruiting body (of an fungus) dominates all!  So, why not go an bit innovative and try on rasam style.  Rasam is an south-Indian soup, usually eaten at the end of lunch.  With an hybrid combo of tomato-tamarind this rasam is believed to aid in digestion.

 

My husband, who is an mushroom-aholic guy totally loved it :)  I have also mentioned below how to serve them on an three-meal course below.  Kindly leave an feedback about how you feel, and do try when had an chance.

 

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Serves : 2  

 

Ingredients required

For temper

• 1 tsp rai/mustard seeds
• 2-3 broken red chilly
• Pinch of hing/asafetida

 

Khus khuswali khumb/ Mushroom flavoured with spicy poppyseeds base

   I love to try gravy with different base, here is one, poppy seeds flavoured mushroom gravy.  Poppy seeds are highly nutritious, rich source of protein, dietery fibre and also an base for preparing anti-cancer drugs.  I have previously prepared Harira, where poppy seeds are pressed to yield milk which is had with poori/chapathi.  Alternatively, poppy seeds are known to create false positive result in drug tests :(  So, it is advised better not to carry them when you travel to other countries, especially to Saudi Arabia where it is regarded as an severe punishable offence.

Ingredients required

For the masala paste (The following ingredients are dry roasted and ground into a fine paste)

• 3-4 tbspn khus khus/poppy seeds
• 3-4 dry red chilly
• 1 tsp whole dhanya
• 1 -inch cinnamon stick
• 1 black cardamon
• Pinch of ajwain
• 2-3 cloves
• 1 tsp of putane ki dal 
• 3-4 garlic pods
• 1/2 tsp dry ginger powder
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder

Malvani khumb curry

      Malvani cuisine is followed by Konkan region of Maharashtra and Goa.  Name comes from Malvan, town in Sindhudurg district in Maharashtra.  Since this town being coastal, this cuisine dominates non-vegetarian food and especially sea food.  Using coconut liberally throughout their cuisine, malvani cuisine is known for its fiery curries.  Here I replaced khumb/mushroom with normally cooked chicken, mutton, prawn etc.  As mentioned earlier, my hubby is mushroom-freak and we have it atleast once a week, so went on for an new try.. and mushroom malvani curry did passs... :)

Ingredients required

For the marination masala

• 3-4 whole red chilly
• 1 tsp whole dhanya
• 1 Bay leaf
• 5-6 clove
• 2 green cardamon
• 1 black cardamon
• 1 tsp shahjeera
• 1/2 tsp dagad phool/stoneflower
• 1/2 tsp crushed nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp whole peppercorn

Shahi khumb

      Before goin to recipe, let me tell you that I recently bought Everest shahi paneer masala packet in a nearby supermarket.  At 100 gm costing about reasonable 54 rupees, the ingredients present were as follows:  coriander, black pepper, chilly, turmeric, cumin, cassia leaves, garlic, dry ginger, dry mango, dry tomato powder, black cardamon, green cardamon, cloves, cassia, nutmeg, fenugreek, salt, star anise, fennel seeds etc.  This range of masalas and spices provides a complete dish, leaving the cook to add onion, tomato and one special ingredient (like paneer/ mushroom/ murgh etc)

    This special masala reduces the need for adding any other spices, I strongly recommend you guys to go for it.  This shahi khumb, is of course one special output of Everest shahi masala ;)

Mushroom ki Rogan josh

     CupoNation is an renowned website that offers wide range of discount coupons for leading online retailers in India like Flipkart, Snapdeal etc.  And yes, Snapdeal is one of my favourite website, back at home, we often visit them for discounted buffets ranging at Hyderabad, isn't it great?  :)  Coming back to our post,  Rogan josh (rogan meaning red/oil and josh meaning heat) is an aromatic lamb dish of Persian origin.  Slowly, they prevailed to Kashmir by Mughals.  This dish has  lamb chunks cooked on high heat with excess of oil.  The characteristic red colour of this dish comes from adding degi mirch powder or kashmiri chilly powder.  This powder added, gives the immense heat to dish, and hence the name

My all-time-twist was to add mushrooms here, and yes, they tasted very great with rogan josh spices.  The entire building (with almost six individual flat) was filled by this aromatic spice and overall it was an divine combination.  Apart from the heat driven by degi mirch here, I am also adding saffron threads to bring out the richness of this rogan josh...  You can also try  other mushroom recipes here like Mushroom stir-fry, Mushroom theeyal, Malvani khumb curry, Khuskhuswali khumb, Laal khumb, Mushroom dopyaza, Mushroom jalfrezi.

Mushroom & Capsicum Stir-Fry | Easy Garlic Mushroom Masala Recipe

Looking for a quick and flavourful side dish for rice or chapati? This Mushroom and Capsicum Stir-Fry is a simple homemade dry gravy loaded with the strong aroma of garlic, onion and Indian spices. Soft mushrooms combined with crunchy capsicum create a delicious and comforting dish that pairs beautifully with hot rice and sambar.

This easy mushroom recipe is perfect for busy weekdays and can be prepared with minimal ingredients.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• Easy and beginner-friendly mushroom recipe
• Rich garlic and onion flavour
• Perfect side dish for rice, sambar or chapati
• Quick vegetarian Indian stir-fry
• Healthy and delicious dry mushroom masala

Ingredients Required

• 1 packet mushrooms (cleaned, washed and cut into halves)
• 3–4 tsp chopped capsicum

For the Masala

• 1 onion (blended into a paste)
• 1 green chilli (deseeded and finely chopped)
• ½ tsp jeera (cumin seeds)
• 10–12 garlic pods (finely chopped)

Spice Mix

• ½ tsp salt
• A pinch of turmeric powder
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• ½ tsp garam masala

Method

Step 1 – Prepare the Garlic Base

Heat oil in a kadai. Add finely chopped garlic and sauté until golden brown and aromatic.

Add jeera and chopped green chilli and sauté for a few seconds.

Step 2 – Cook the Onion Paste

Add the onion paste and cook on medium flame until it turns light brown and the raw smell disappears.

Step 3 – Add Mushrooms & Capsicum

Now add the spice mix along with mushrooms and chopped capsicum.

Cook on medium flame for about 25–30 minutes until the mushrooms are soft and well coated with masala.

Step 4 – Garnish & Serve

Finish with freshly chopped coriander leaves and a few drops of lime juice for extra freshness.

Serve hot with:

• Steamed rice
• Sambar rice
• Chapati
• Jeera rice

A simple yet flavour-packed Indian mushroom stir-fry recipe ready to enjoy!