I could eat mushrooms every day. We probably eat it at least thrice a week, and it’s usually in a pasta, a stir fry, or as a topping for pizza. I recently remembered a mushroom curry I ate A LOT of as a child. It had long strands of oyster mushroom, in a spicy (surprise ) gravy, thickened with a little left over water from making rice. It had such a particular flavour, and this weekend, when I was making this mushroom fry, I realised it’s that intense aroma of mushrooms frying in coconut oil. This recipe here, is a dry situation, but you can certainly make a little gravy, either with water or some left over starch water, if you have that. There’s a fair bit of chilli powder here, and just like in the kozhi porichathu recipe, the chilli powder loses its piquancy by cooking it down low and slow, until it becomes less sharp and more of a mellow thrum. Same principle here. And for the love of all that is good, please use the most non-stick pan in your kitchen and *not* a griddle pan like I’ve used here.

Recipe: Mushroom Fry

Ingredients
300 g oyster mushroom
2 tbsp coconut oil
1 1/2 tbsp Kashmiri chilli powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
Salt to taste

Method
Shred the oyster mushrooms lengthwise into thin strips.
Heat the coconut oil in a heavy-bottomed pan.
Meanwhile, add enough water to the chilli powder and turmeric powder to make a thick paste.
Add the mushrooms to the pan and sauté, until it loses all its water.
Add the chilli+ turmeric paste, salt and let it fry, low and slow for 5-8 minutes.
If the masala is sticking to the bottom of the pan, add a little more oil.
Serve warm with chapati, porotta, pathiri, or use as a filling in a sandwich.

Possible additions: 2-3 cloves of garlic, and a handful of curry leaves added to the pan first, and sautéed for a few minutes before adding the mushrooms.