Mushroom Curry

5 from 40 votes

This delicious Indian mushroom curry, based on my dad's mutton curry recipe, has a spicy coconut sauce that explodes with flavor! Use your favorite mushrooms and serve with basmati rice, roti or vegan naan.

Prep Time20

Cook Time30

Total Time50

Course: Curry

Cuisine: Indian

Diet: Gluten Free, Vegan, Vegetarian

Servings: servings

Calories: 207kcal

Author: Vaishali · Holy Cow Vegan

Equipment

Bowl for soaking dry mushrooms, if using.
Blender
Large pot or saucepan with lid

Ingredients

1.5 tablespoon avocado oil or any neutral oil
2 tablespoon 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
1 inch cinnamon stick
5 cloves
5 pods green cardamom pods
½-inch piece dagad phool (stoneflower, optional)
½ flower mace (optional)
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
1 teaspoon black peppercorns (use less for less heat)
1 large onion (half sliced, the other half finely diced)
6 large garlic cloves (sliced)
1-inch piece ginger (thinly sliced)
½ cup shredded coconut (unsweetened. Use freshly grated or frozen)
2-4 tablespoon cilantro (chopped)
2 medium potatoes (cut into 1-inch cubes)
2 cups dry shiitake mushrooms
8 oz crimini mushrooms (or button mushrooms are fine)
2 tablespoon lemon juice (plus more lemon wedges for serving)

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

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.
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.
Add the sliced onion, garlic and ginger and saute until the onions get brown spots. Stir in turmeric after turning off the heat. Remove the spices to a plate to cool down.
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.
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.
In the same skillet, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil.
Add the chopped onions and cilantro with about ½ teaspoon of salt and cook until the onions begin to brown.
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.
Once the potatoes are almost done, add the crimini or button mushrooms, stir to mix, and then add the ground masala from the blender.
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.
Garnish with cilantro and turn off the heat. Serve hot with wedges of lemons to squirt on top of the curry.

Notes

For a low-carb diet, leave the potatoes out of this recipe to reduce carbs to 16 net grams.
To reduce the oil, cut down the oil in step 6 to ½ tbsp.
If you are feeding this to children, cut down the quantity of peppercorns to up to ¼ teaspoon and halve the amount of red chili peppers/powder.
You can substitute coconut milk if you don't have unsweetened grated coconut. Use 1 cup.
Use your favorite mushrooms in this recipe. I use shiitake and cremini, but just about any mushroom will work here. If using dry mushrooms be sure to reconstitute them.
This mushroom curry tastes fabulous with 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.
This curry tastes even better the next day! Refrigerate 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.

Nutrition