BM #114 : Week 4, Day 2
Theme : A-Z theme, Curries

Today’s alphabet is Q and a curry starting with that alphabet is not an easy find :-). So I have gone for an alternate spelling of Keema/Kheema here. Qeema means minced/ground meat and the curry made using it is also called qeema. There are a lot of options available now for vegetarians by substituting the meat with soya or mushrooms or tofu. It’s not technically speaking qeema, since there is no meat. But recipe is same as the one for meat, so it’s called vegetarian qeema.

Coming to the recipe here, I went for the mushroom qeema since that’s what I had. Expect for the qeema part, the base is the same onion and tomato gravy with the regular masalas. But the finely minced mushrooms lended a completely different taste to the curry.

There are many ways to prepare this curry. The one I followed suggested cooking the mushrooms first and mincing it using a blender. A food processor would work well too. If you are using a blender make sure that you don’t puree the mushrooms and are just make a very coarse mix to resemble qeema.

Read on for the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon oil
• 200 gms mushrooms, sliced
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped finely
• 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste
• 2 medium tomatoes, chopped finely
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1.5 teaspoon coriander powder
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 1/4 cup green peas, optional
• salt to taste
• Coriander leaves to sprinkle

Method:

1. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a pan. Add sliced mushrooms. Sauté until it’s cooked. Strain and reserve the water. Remove the mushrooms to a bowl and wait for it to cool completely. Once it’s cooled down, pulse couple of times in a blender to get a very roughly chopped mix. Be careful not to puree it. Set aside for now.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in the same pan. Add finely chopped onions and sauté until it turns pink. Add the ginger garlic paste, chopped tomatoes and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the masala powders now – chili powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder and salt. Add green peas too, if using. Mix well and cook until tomatoes are very soft and completely mushy.
3. Now add the coarse ground mushrooms to this. Add the reserved water and mix well. Cook for 5-6 minutes or until the curry reaches the consistency you prefer, taste test and adjust seasonings. Remove from the heat and serve with rice or roti.