Khumb Matar Malai (Mushroom Curry with Cardamom, Cashews, and Peas)
Cooking Indian cuisine is not for beginners. The more I delve into regional Indian cooking, the more I’ve learned the complexity of how to properly prepare these dishes. Their cuisine has significantly more ingredients than any other ethnicity I’m finding. Some of the ingredients are fairly expensive(nuts, saffron, etc.) There is a very specific order in which you add the ingredients. If you don’t the recipe won’t turn out right. But...The end results have been nothing but amazing, and this recipe is nothing short of that.Mushrooms aren’t typically used in a lot of Indian cuisine. Khumb Matar Malai translates to mushroom curry with cardamom, cashews, and peas. What you get out of this curry is a creamy mushroom gravy thickened with a cashew paste and aromtically spiced with cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, and Kashmiri chili powder. This dish is vegetarian, but can be made vegan by substituting non-dairy yogurt and almond or cashew milk. Serve with steamed basmati rice and paratha.
Equipment
- Spice Grinder or mortar and pestle
- Food processor or immersion blender
Ingredients
Spice Powder
- 4 whole cloves
- 1” cinnamon stick
- 5 green cardamom seeds
Khumb Matar Malai
- 8 oz button mushrooms sliced
- 1/3 cup cashews soaked in warm water for 20 minutes
- 2 tbsp Greek yogurt
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 small white onion finely chopped
- 1 birds eye green chili finely chopped
- 2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
- 1/2 tsp Kashmiri chili powder
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup frozen peas
Garnish
- 3 tbsp cilantro chopped
Instructions
- Soak cashews in hot water for 20 minutes.
- Purée the cashews in a blender along with the Greek yogurt and 1/4 cup of the water the cashews soaked in until a smooth paste is formed. Set aside.
- In the same blender, add the onions and purée into a paste. Set aside.
- Grind the cloves, cinnamon stick, and cardamom seeds in a spice grinder. Set aside.
- Heat up cooking oil in a large sauté pan over medium. Sauté the green chili for 1 minute.
- Add in the onion paste. Sauté for 8 minutes.
- Add in the ginger garlic paste. Sauté for 1 minute.
- Add in the Kashmiri chili powder and spice powder. Sauté for 30 seconds.
- Add in the cashew yogurt paste. Sauté for 2 minutes.
- Pour in the milk. Simmer for 2 minutes.
- Add in the mushrooms, sugar, and salt. Simmer for 5 minutes, covered.
- Add in the green peas and continue simmering for 5 minutes.
- Garnish with chopped cilantro.
