Mushroom Kadai is a simple and delicious curry that is ready in minutes. It can also be called a stir fry, although it is an Indian stir fry.
Kadai means wok, so obviously this is one vegetable that should be cooked in a wok. Actually, most vegetable dishes or curries in India are generally cooked in a wok. I first tasted a kadai curry a few decades ago. It is generally made with onions and peppers cooked on a high flame with paneer or vegetables, seasoned with fresh ground spices. As far as I remember, this curry used to be heavy on the veggies and there was hardly any sauce or gravy. Over the years, the sauce component has gone on increasing so that this is like any other Indian curry, a few vegetables doused in a thick masala paste.
My version of Mushroom Kadai tries to get the best of both versions. I use just a little bit of sauce, just enough to coat the veggies. This recipe uses only 1 tsp oil instead of the copious amounts required for the stir fry. The sauce kind of replaces the oil here.
Mushrooms have their own earthy taste giving this curry a unique taste. If you make the same recipe with paneer instead of mushrooms (that would be paneer kadai), you won’t get the same flavor. White button mushrooms are readily available here in Pune so I am using them. If you have access to baby bellas or shitakes, go ahead and use a mix of mushrooms.
Serve this with some fresh hot roti or naan and you have a simple Indian meal for lunch or dinner.
Mushroom Kadai Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 medium onions
- ½ red bell pepper
- ½ yellow bell pepper
- ½ green bell pepper (optional)
- 1 pack or 12-15 mushrooms
- ¼ tsp turmeric, ground
- 1 tsp coriander, ground
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
- ¼ tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp oil
- ¼ tsp sugar
- Salt to taste
- ¼ tsp Kasoori Methi for garnish
- For the spice paste
- 2 medium onions
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 inch piece ginger
Method
- Make the spice paste first. Chop onions, garlic and ginger and boil them in half a cup of water until softened. Cool and make a paste. Set aside.
- Clean the mushrooms. Finely chop 3 mushrooms and set aside. Cut the remaining mushrooms in quarters.
- Heat oil in a wok. Add the spice paste and fry for a couple of minutes. Add some water if it starts sticking.
- Add the finely chopped mushrooms and fry them along with the spice paste.
- Add the spices and salt.
- Now add the peppers one by one. Fry for a minute or so.
- Add the onions and fry for a minute.
- Add the quartered mushrooms and stir everything together.
- Cook for 2-3 minutes only until mushrooms start to cook down. Do not cover this curry.
- Mushroom Kadai is done.
- Garnish with kasoori methi just before serving.
- Note – Mushrooms have a lot of water content. Do not cook mushroom for more than a few minutes otherwise they will shrivel and become tiny.
This is a healthy low fat, vegan recipe for mushroom lovers. I hope you try this Mushroom Kadai or Mushroom Stir Fry Curry and let me know how you like it.
