Nepalese Coconut Curry

Scan my recipe archive, and you will see for yourself that I am certainly a mushroom fan. A mushroom sauce of any kind has been a comfort food since I was young. And these days, comfort foods rate high on my list. This is a Nepalese dish, with slightly different seasonings to the Southern Indian dishes I usually cook, and I have fallen in love with the results. After tinkering with it these past weeks, it is finally ready to share. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Ingredients

• 2 pkg of organic mushrooms, wiped clean and thickly sliced
• Sunflower or coconut oil 
• 1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds 
• 1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds 
• 1 teaspoon nigella Seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• ½ tea Nepalese pepper (Timur) or red pepper flakes
• 1 medium onion, peeled and finely sliced 
• 1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger 
• 1-4 garlic cloves (according to taste)
• 2 large roughly chopped tomatoes 
• 1-2 serrano peppers or green chilis (according to taste)
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon coriander
• Salt (according to taste)
• 1 can full-fat organic coconut milk

Directions

1. Heat oil in a large heavy skillet and toast cumin, fenugreek, nigella and mustard seeds until they pop and are fragrant. 
2. Add onion to spices and cook until softened.
3. Add mushrooms, stirring well to coat with seasoning and saute until light brown. Turn off heat and set aside.
4. Add tomatoes, chilis, turmeric, cumin and coriander powders, ginger and garlic to a blender, processing well to make a paste.
5. Mix tomato and seasoning paste with mushrooms over medium heat, stirring well. 
6. Pour in coconut milk, bringing to a gentle simmering boil. Then cover and reduce heat, cooking for 10 minutes to blend flavors. 
7. Test seasonings, adding salt adjusting to taste.
8. Serve with steamed rice. 

Enjoy!