Much ado about Mushrooms!

A lot of people have this question, Is Mushroom a vegetable?
Some vegetarians even avoid eating mushrooms as they consider it to be a non-vegetarian.
I can understand why the question arises. They are one of the foods, which can be cooked in both vegetarian and non-vegetarian cooking methods. It's one of those fleshy, thick foods, which is very sumptuous and filling, it provides good amount of protein with very less fat.
Why I talk about mushrooms, you may ask. Well, it was supposed to be the build up for the mushroom recipe, am about to write about. So let me jump right in.
I have named it "Mushroom mania" (Just being fancy). It's an Indian style mushroom curry with not much of a twist.

Mushroom Mania

Ingredients:

• Button or portabella mushrooms (Chop each into 4 pieces) – 250 g (about 10-15 mushrooms)
• Medium onion thinly chopped lengthwise – 1
• Medium tomato finely chopped– 1
• Ginger – 1 inch
• Garlic – 4 pods

For Temper

• Cinnamon stick – ½ inch
• Cloves – 2
• Fennel seeds – ¼ teaspoon
• Cumin seeds, mustard seeds, urad dhal - ½ teaspoon.
• Cooking oil - 2 tablespoon
  
  

For Flavor/Hotness

• Curry leaves – 8-10
• Chili powder – ½ teaspoon
• Pepper powder – 1 teaspoon
• Meat masala – 1 teaspoon
• Salt – to taste.
• Chicken broth – 1 cup
• Coriander leaves – handful.

Method:

1. Mix the mushrooms with pepper and meat masala and marinate it for 15 minutes.
2. Set the stove on medium heat. In a saucepan, add all the items listed under "for temper" and sauté a bit until the mustard seeds pop.
3. Add the curry leaves, Ginger and Garlic and sauté until the garlic smell goes away.
4. Add the onions and sauté it until it becomes translucent.
5. Set the stove to low heat and let the onions cook for at least 5 minutes.
6. Add tomatoes and mix well; let the tomatoes cook for another 5 minutes and observe that tomatoes are in a semi mashed state
7. Add the chili powder and salt, mix well and let it cook for another 2 minutes.
8. Add the chicken broth, mix well and set the stove to medium heat and bring to boil and let it boil for 5 minutes
9. Add the marinated mushrooms, mix well and add coriander leaves on top and boil for 2-3 minutes.
10. Set the stove on simmer and let it cook for 10 minutes.
11. The mushroom curry is ready to eat.

Why, what was done:

• Chicken broth gives it the additional flavor and also makes mushroom texture to be a bit like chicken and juicy.
• Meat Masala can be substituted with garam masala, if you want it hotter.
• This Curry can be eaten with Chapatti or Rice.