Kadai in Hindi literally means “a thick, circular, and deep wok” widely used in Indian cooking so the word “kadai” in Indian recipes is used when a dish is cooked in kadai and it almost always involves bell peppers. You can see I used a mini kadai in the 1st pic, the ones in which we cook are obviously larger than this!
So the story goes like this, ever since I can remember I have always loved mushroom. Even though growing up, it was not a veggie that mom would make often still whenever she made it, I ate 1 big bowl full. I love mushroom in my pizzas, burgers and just about everything. And then I got married. And then I realized that my husband hates it and that was the end of my love affair with mushroom. No he never asked me to not cook it but it seemed like a lot of work to cook something exclusively for myself.
Is this vegan? No because I added 1 tablespoon of cream to it. Just skip that and then it’s all vegan! Give this flavorful dish a try, it’s the perfect side dish for naan, paratha or roti. I ate it with some vegetable biryani and loved it!
A tip to make this dish more flavorful, use fresh ginger garlic paste rather than store bought. It makes a lot of difference. To make fresh ginger garlic paste simply chop garlic and ginger very finely and then crush the two together using your mortar and pestle. It’s a little extra work but it’s so worth it.
Ingredients170 gm white button mushrooms sliced
1 green bell pepper cut into cubes
1 onion medium, chopped finely
2 medium tomatoes pureed
1.5 teaspoons fresh ginger-garlic paste
1 tablespoon heavy cream
¾ teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon vinegar
½ teaspoon kashmiri red chili powder
garam masala to sprinkle
4 teaspoons oil
½ cup water
salt to taste
1 teaspoon crushed kasuri methi [dried fenugreek leaves]
cilantro chopped, to garnish
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
1 whole dried red chili
Method* Heat 1/2 teaspoon of oil in a pan on medium heat.
* Once hot, add cubed bell pepper and saute for 1-2 minutes or till the sides start to get very light brown. Set aside.
* In the same pan, heat 1 teaspoon of oil and add sliced white mushrooms.
* Saute till mushrooms turns golden brown in color. This will take few minutes as mushrooms first release a lot of moisture and then start getting brown. Set aside.
* In a pan dry roast coriander seeds and whole dry red chili for 2-3 minutes or till you get a nice aroma.
* Transfer roasted spices to a spice grinder and grind to a fine powder. Set aside.
* In a pan, heat 2 teaspoons of oil on medium heat. Once oil is hot, add chopped red onions.
* Cook the onions till they they start turning light golden in color, then add ginger garlic paste and cook for 2-3 minutes or till the raw smell goes away. [Tip: use fresh ginger-garlic paste for better taste and flavor]
* Add tomato puree and cook for 5-6 minutes on medium heat.
* Then add the roasted spice powder and cook 1-2 minutes. If you the spices can burn, add little water.
* Add water, kashmiri red chili powder, sugar, vinegar and salt and let it all come to a boil.
* Add cream and mix and finally add in the sauteed bell pepper (capsicum) and mushrooms and mix. Add crushed kasuri methi & mix.
* Sprinkle garam masala on top, garnish with chopped cilantro and serve kadai mushroom hot with naan or roti.