Curry leaf flavoured Stuffed Mushrooms -Mystyle :)

It has been raining nonstop since last night. Just recovered from a bad cold so I know for sure that I am not going to fall ill again despite the cold weather.

The husband's leaping up and down literally sticking his tongue out through the grilled windows and savouring the rain in God's own country. Ufff!!! He loves his state for its greenery and monsoons. He does that happy dance. But my happy dance takes its form in my stomach. As clichéd as it seems this rainy weather demands such cute bites that are adequately flavoured, spicy and tiny to gobble down with the help of lil toothpicks or fancy skewers seen these days. A few specks of curry leaves here and there makes a pretty picture.

 As seen in the photos above, I have taken button mushrooms and carefully pulled out its stalk. Thus, we are left with the mushroom caps. The stalk, being edible as well is chopped finely into the mixture that is going to be our stuffing. My sister-in-law handed me a zip lock bag filled with curry leaves from her backyard. I thought I would incorporate that into the filling/stuffing.



Pic courtesy: Google Images

(I have so Much Room in my heart for you)
The cleaned and scooped out mushrooms were set aside. Let's attend to our filling. The filling was a finely chopped onion, green chilly, two long strands of broken curry leaves finely chopped sautéing in tsp. of coconut oil. To this mix I added pepper powder and a sprinkle of salt as I am going to add more salt later on to the coating of our mushroom caps. I included some bread crumbs to this for texture and volume. When this mixture cooled down I added two tbsp. of grated cheese as well. The curry leaves give this mixture a very unique flavour which is so typical of South Indian cooking. You may add other spices to this stuffing. I kept it bland with just the twosome-Pepper and salt.

 The filling is set aside and we attend to our coating. This coating comprises of two tbsp. of curd, ginger and garlic freshly chopped and ground, spices to your desire-I have used a tbsp. or more of a  store-bought spicy Chicken tikka masala into this curd, a tsp. of chickpeas flour/besan is also added as it helps to stick onto the mushroom caps. I added a nice dash of lemon juice-If you have amchur powder or dry mango powder that can also be used instead of the lemon juice. You may add Kashmiri chilly powder for extra colour, My tikka masala already seemed red enough hence I avoided adding more. Salt is added to this coating as well keeping in mind that the filling also had a bit of salt. This coating is a thick batter which will help the mushrooms have a nice batter dipped look. Do not make this coating runny!

 The mushroom caps were carefully coated with this coating by immersing them in that coating and setting the caps aside. the cheesy mushroom stuffing is to be filled into the cavities of the button mushrooms either with your hands or with the help of a teaspoon.

Picture courtesy: Google Images

I chose the mushroom because he is a fun guy(fungi) to hang around with... LOL
They are then grilled over a hot saucepan or a grill pan with the filling side facing down first. The sides are flipped to ensure that the coating is browned and the filling oozes and the cheese melts all over giving it a very inviting appearance.

You may use other non vegetarian filling such as minced meat, kheema or tuna.

To be served hot. It does not require any sauce as the cheesy filling just oozes in your mouth. I added a green olive over it when I served it to us-The mister and I.

Will catch you all soon. Stay tuned...picturesque shots happening very soon...see you on my Instagram for those updates!!!

This month had been filled with several unexpected visitors. I had been on my toes for all those who gave me enough time to concoct small bites or put a meal or two together but to those who hardly gave me time/sufficient notice in advance...thank heavens for such light bites and and quick fixes!!!

Never starved anyone who visited!