Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms

Well, there are wonderful recipes of Mushrooms. If you think of Mushrooms, and if you think of Vegetarian food, Mushrooms really come last in thought. We first think of things like Potato, Cauliflower, Broccoli, Paneer. And then possibly comes Mushroom. Mushroom is also not very indigenous to the Indian Diaspora. When you think about Mushroom recipes, they're really acquired in a way. Well, today I'm showing you a recipe which is very unique. And it's a recipe that actually takes me down nostalgia. Well, I'm making Cheesy Stuffed Mushrooms. Let's begin. It's an extremely simple recipe. And for this, of course, we need to use Button Mushrooms. Well, Button Mushrooms, of course, you have the stem and you have the caps. I'm going to remove the stem, just lightly push it away from you. It comes down right from the base. And scoop it in this manner. Well, this is only done to kind of create a little more cavity for filling, Than you naturally have in a Mushroom cap. Well, this way the Mushroom is ready. It goes right here. Well, generally for this, when you're choosing Button Mushrooms, If and only if you could possibly lay your hands on the bigger sized caps, Then nothing like it. Otherwise, the smaller ones also just kind of work perfect. It's an extremely delicate Mushroom. You cannot go extremely harsh while scooping. Just lightly, and that should be good. You'll realize that Mushrooms oxidize very quickly. And while you're actually scooping this, they turn a pink shade. And that's what will happen, so you can't do much about it. Do not soak this in water. Because Mushrooms anyway are very high in water content. Let's keep all of this in a plate. All the scooped caps go here. Well, a packet of Mushrooms or rather a box of Mushrooms in India as we say, Come in varied sizes. Well, it's generally a 200 gm packet and the Mushrooms are of varied sizes. The extremely tiny ones of course can be chopped up and used for stuffings. But what we need to use are these large cap Mushrooms. And then you snip off the stem. And you just score all of the sides and scoop the insides. What happens with scooping is, you kind of increase the quantity of filling. As simple as that. And the next step is to chop up the stems. And all of this that you've scooped, so that nothing goes waste. It's a complete sustainable recipe. Because everything that's here on the board is edible. So let's take the stem and chop it up nice and fine. You can chop all the stems and all the scrapings of the Mushroom. And the next step is to begin heating a wok or a Kadhai on high flame. And making the mixture. To this, let's add in Oil. Again, not too much because Oil will get absorbed in the Mushrooms. And you're not looking at that. Again, the recipe is going to be extremely high on Cheese. So you do not want a lot of fat any which way in the recipe. Once the Oil heats up, the first thing that goes in, some Cumin Seeds. Immediately followed by Ginger, Garlic and Green Chillies. Again, depending on how much spice you're looking at. Just ensure that they're all finely chopped. Because all of this is going to get stuffed in the caps of the Mushroom. Once the raw smell of the Ginger-Garlic kind of goes away. We'll add in finely chopped Red Onions. Just a touch of Salt. To ensure that the Onions cook faster. We're not looking at browning them at this stage. We're just kind of looking at sautéing them. Till they just kind of begin to turn golden brown and not brown really. To this, let's add in chopped Tomatoes. And along with this, the Powder Spices. In this case, just Red Chilli Powder and Turmeric Powder. Well, towards the end, I'm going to add in lots of Black Pepper. So I'm leaving a little room for the spice right there. And along with this, I'm also going to add in the chopped Mushrooms. For some extra added flavour, Coriander. Of course, I'm leaving a little aside for the final garnish. Let's mix all of this well. The mixture is cooked and ready. With this, off goes the flame. And here, you'll realise that everything is kind of separate, It's not clumping together. To bring all of that together, I'm grating in 1 Processed Cheese. Scrape all of this from the back of the grater. One mix. And the final ingredient, and that is freshly cracked Black Peppercorns. Well, this is a dish which is a little more on Peppercorns, like I said before. Because the bite of freshly cracked Black Pepper, With Mushrooms and Cheese is quite lethal. Well, just a little note and trivia for all of you out there. This is actually one of the first recipes that I ever started cooking, When I was young. I was just 8 years old, and I realised that my father one day, Just kind of turned vegetarian almost overnight. And again, Mushroom had just taken fancy in Indian kitchens. And this is something that I started rustling up. Well, my father expired almost 8 years back. And I don't remember if I've made this recipe ever since then. But I had this habit of maintaining a little diary in my home. And that still has that little note which is written next to it, Which says, Papa's favourite. Yeah, so this is that one recipe which is very close to my heart. And over the years, it's become extremely special, Because of course, I lost my father. And then we literally almost stopped making this recipe. So, this is a recipe that I'm actually making after 8 years. So it's extremely special. Well, cutting all of that short, Let's begin to fill all of this in these caps. Once all the filling is done and ready, You'll see that you still have a little bit left, Which is the masala or the spice. Well, just a home trick for you. What you can do is grind this into a smooth puree. And give it a fresh tadka. You can take a little more oil in the same pan. Add a little bit of Jeera. You can throw in a Bay leaf. Add in the gravy which is ready. You can salt and spice it the way you want. And you can serve this right under, Like a bed of gravy and the stuffed mushrooms on top. But because I'm making a starter, I'm just treating it just like that. But otherwise, follow the trick. Finally, let's top this up with grated cheese. With this, we're almost ready. Coming to the last step, And that is heating the wok yet again. With just a little more oil. A swirl. And we place all of these mushrooms, Which are stuffed and topped very carefully. Without dropping, without spilling, Without turning them over at the base of the pan. We cover this and leave it on medium flame, Till the mushrooms are perfectly cooked. And that's not going to take more than 3-4 minutes. Again, if you leave this on low flame, The mushroom will release a lot of moisture. And then coming back to drying it could be quite a disaster. So medium flame, 3-4 minutes and we're done. Whenever you're cooking a recipe that calls for mushrooms, And generally when it's a starter or anything that's dry, The trick there is to increase the flame, To ensure that the water gets arrested in the mushroom itself. Because if the flame goes low, Then the mushroom just kind of warm up, And the water starts leaching out. And then it's extremely difficult to go back to drying it, Because it's a starter. And the mushrooms really don't take more than 3-4 minutes to cook. So remember that. With this our mushrooms are cooked and ready. Off goes the flame. And your stuffed mushrooms are done and ready. Well, I'm very emotional about this recipe, And no garnish, nothing as simple as Coriander and that's about it. This well straight goes on your platter, Top up with Coriander and on the dinner table. Just a touch of fresh Coriander leaves, And with this, your cheesy stuffed mushrooms are done and ready. On that note, do not forget to like, share and subscribe to Get Curried. 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