My Dad's 'Not-Mutton' Mushroom Curry

A spicy, delicious, creamy mushroom curry with coconut and potatoes.

This Indian mushroom curry recipe with a spicy coconut sauce is packed with so much flavor! It is based on a mutton curry my dad made every Sunday. I've modified it to make it completely vegan and it tastes as good as the real thing. You can use your favorite mushrooms, including white button mushrooms, cremini mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms or portobello mushrooms. Adjust the spice level up or down to your liking and if you have kids at home. The dish is everyone-friendly, being nut-free, gluten-free and soy-free. If you are eating a low-carb/keto diet leave out the potatoes. Serve this dish with rice, roti or naan for a fabulous meal you'll remember for a long time to come.

My Dad's Not-Mutton Mushroom Curry has lived on this blog since its infancy. I am resharing it today, and the rest of this post much as I had written it so many years ago, in memory of my father who passed away last week.

Dad stood apart from men of his generation in many ways (you can read more about him on my Facebook post), one of those being his willingness to help my mother around the kitchen--something men in India rarely did at the time. He was also a good cook in his own right and a mutton curry he made so lovingly for the family each Sunday was the highlight of our weekends.

The mutton curry was made in the style of Karwari konkani cuisine--Karwar being a beautiful coastal city in the south Indian state of Karnataka where Dad's family came from. Dad would do most of the work, right from buying the mutton (goat's meat) in the morning to actually cooking it, as well as supervising everyone in the household who had some role to play in the actual preparation.

My job was peeling a whole bulb of garlic and grating two kinds of coconut, fresh and dry. I hated both jobs: the juices from the garlic set my fingernails on fire, and I don't remember a time when I didn't grate my hand along with the coconut!

But I did love that curry. I can close my eyes and still see Dad standing over a two-burner stove in our Bombay kitchen, carefully roasting the spices and then grinding them to perfection in a little blender. He loved making that curry, just as much as we loved eating it.

After turning vegetarian, I sometimes would crave the spices in my dad's mutton curry and that's why I came up with this not-mutton mushroom curry. I make it with the exact masalas Dad used, but because I use veggies instead of meat, I get to skip several steps involving marinating and tenderizing the meat.

I use two kinds of mushrooms in this recipe, fresh crimini and dry shiitake, which I reconstitute. The mix adds lots of flavor and texture. You can use other kinds of mushrooms, and you can also use eggplants. I swear you will not miss the meat in this curry, and even meat-eaters I've served it to love its robust flavors. 

The curry is perfect either with brown or white rice or with any kind of Indian bread. We would eat the curry with rice or a soft roll called a pav, tearing pieces of the bread with our fingers and dunking it into the curry. You can just use a storebought dinner roll of something like this soft sourdough roll.

I hope you will try this curry and love it as much as we have, in memory of the man who taught me how to cook with love.

This one is for you, dearest Dad.

Why you'll love this mushroom curry

• It's so delicious. The curried mushroom gravy is packed with flavor thanks to a homemade, fresh-ground garam masala mix similar to the one my dad used for his meat curry. Coconut mellows the heat down and adds a wonderful creaminess. You won't be able to stop eating this curry.
• It's easy to make. If you have the spices needed for this dish handy, you will find that the recipe comes together really quickly and easily. The only spice here that may not be familiar to some is the stoneflower or dagad phool and it is optional.
• It is everyone friendly. The curry is vegan, of course, but omnivore friendly because of the rich, robust flavors. And it's soy-free, nut-free and gluten-free. Leave out the potatoes to lower the carbs considerably if you are on a low-carb/keto diet. You can adjust the amount of red chili peppers down if you are serving this to kids.

Ingredients

• 1.5 tablespoons vegetable oil. If you are trying to eat less oil, you can cut this down to 1 tbsp.
• Spices: 2 tablespoons coriander seeds, 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, 1 teaspoon fennel seeds, 1-2 dry red chili peppers (can use cayenne, up to 1 tsp, or any red chili powder, like Kashmiri chili powder for good color and moderate heat), ½ teaspoon turmeric powder, 1-inch cinnamon stick, 5 cloves, 5 green cardamom pods, 1 tbp poppy seeds, and 1 teaspoon black peppercorns (use less for less heat).
• Optional spices: ½-inch piece dagad phool (stoneflower), ½ flower javatri (mace)
• 1 large onion
• 6 large garlic cloves
• 1-inch piece ginger
• ½ cup shredded coconut. Use unsweetened coconut that's freshly grated or frozen. You can substitute with coconut milk. Use 1 cup of thick, canned or fresh coconut milk.
• 2-4 tablespoons cilantro
• 2 medium potatoes
• 2 cups dry shiitake mushrooms
• 8 oz crimini mushrooms (or white button mushrooms)
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice. Plus more lemon wedges for serving.

How to make the mushroom curry

1. Soak the dry mushrooms in 3 cups boiling water for at least 30 minutes to help them reconstitute. Once they are plump and juicy, halve or quarter them. You can trim out any tough stems.
2. Heat ½ tablespoon of the oil in a skillet. Add the coriander, cumin, chillies. cardamom, cloves, dagad phool and mace if using, cinnamon, peppercorns, poppy seeds and fennel seeds, Roast over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the coriander seeds start changing color and become fragrant.
3. Add the sliced onion, garlic and ginger and saute until the onions get brown spots. Remove to a plate to cool down.
4. Without adding any more oil, roast the shredded coconut in the hot pan until some of the shreds turn quite brown but be careful not to burn. Coconut has oils and can burn easily. Place the coconut on the plate with the other roasted spices.
5. Once the coconut and spices have cooled, add them to the blender with a cup of water (or use a cup of the water you soaked the mushrooms in). Blend into a very smooth paste.
6. In the same skillet, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil.
7. Add the chopped onions and cilantro with about ½ teaspoon of salt and cook until the onions begin to brown.
8. Stir in the potatoes and the shiitake mushrooms. Add the water remaining from soaking the mushrooms to the pot, stir, cover and let the potatoes cook until almost tender. Stir a couple of times while they are cooking to make sure there's some liquid in the pot.
9. Once the potatoes are almost done, add the crimini or button mushrooms, stir to mix, and then add the ground masala from the blender.
10. At this point add a cup or two of water or vegtable stock to thin out the curry to your liking. Stir well, check the seasoning and add salt, and let the curry come to a boil. Let it cook, uncovered, over medium-high heat until you see some specks of fat pool at the top, about 10-15 minutes. You can add more water at any point if the curry gets too thick.
11. Garnish with cilantro and turn off the heat. Serve hot with wedges of lemons to squirt on top of the curry.

What to serve with the mushroom curry

This mushroom curry tastes fabulous with soft dinner rolls or any Indian flatbread, including roti or vegan naan. Or serve it with a flavorful basmati rice, like jeera rice, carrot rice or turmeric rice. Serve a vegan raita on the side.

Storage and freezing instructions

This curry tastes even better the next day! Keep in the fridge for up to three days and reheat before serving. You can freeze the curry in an airtight container for up to three months. Thaw and reheat.

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