Mushroom Matar Makhanwala- The best :)!!!

Sangeeta and I had been to PF Chang's last night and we had brought home lots of left over food from there,I enjoy their lettuce wraps a lot and between the two of us we had 4 each and were full by the time I had finished half bowl of the hot & sour soup so the entrees had to be packed. We were saving room for the dessert-which was carrot cake and lime cake...ooooh...that was good and yes- I have to mention we enjoyed dinner after having watched Kings' Speech- An excellent movie wherein Colin Firth has stolen many a hearts with his English accent stutter-Wow!!! I have watched him in Pride & Prejudice,Bridgete Jones and love actually etc and now this-His acting skills are phenomenal and he always does complete justice to the character he plays. I just hope he wins the Oscar's today*finger crossed* He totally deserves it .

Today Manasi is back from Chicago and on her special request I am making her most favorite Daal Chawal,something she always seems to miss when she is away from home for more than a week . No- I don't mean to post that now,I will be doing that soon though for Mahir,he needs to look at it and prepare it in my absence.That reminds me I have to do it soon before I stay back in India and he and Manasi fly back here. There is still time and being the procrastinator that I am-Think it will wait till the last minute :0

So today's post was technically prepared in Schenectady NY( Sangeeta's house) but is being published from CT. We were in no mood to eat PF Chang's food again ,moreover on our way from NY city we had stopped at Hannafords to pick up veggies ,so we were keen on exausting those while they were still fresh. I looked at the mushrooms and pictured something rich and creamy,I had a good  40 minute gruelling workout in the morning and wanted to reward myself :) I looked through Sangeeta's pantry and found everything I would need so Mushroom Makhanwala it had to be :) Very easy to prepare,no complicated steps,and turns out this dish is super delicious and goes very well with tandoori roti or even plain phulka. This is also a great main course dish for those who are fond of entertaining friends & family, fetches lots of compliments and it is hard for people to belive that it was prepared at home and not some topnotch resturant :)

Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
serves 3

Ingredients:
almonds: 15-20
Onion: 1 medium sized sliced thin
Ginger paste: 1 tsp
Garlic paste: 1tsp
white Button Mushrooms: 1 packet  about 20 mushrooms washed and halved
Green peas : 1 cup
Cinnamon: 1 inch piece
Green cardamom: take the seeds and save the skins for tea or something alike
fresh Cream: 2 tbsp optional
Olive oil or butter: 3 tbsp
Turmeric: Little more than a pinch
Kashmiri Red pepper: 1/2 tsp or to your taste
salt: 1/2 tsp or to your taste
Honey: 1 tsp
Kasoori Methi: 1 tbsp roasted ,cooled & then crushed on the vegetable as a finishing touch

Take a pan and heat the 3 tbsp oil or butter.
When the oil is hot add the cinnamon and cardamom,when it starts to emanate the aroma add the sliced onions and saute till they turn translucent.
Now add the ginger and garlic paste along with salt,turmeric and red pepper.
Take the almonds and grind them in the coffee grinder to a fine powder and add this to the onions. Add 1/2 cup water and turn off the flame.When cooled puree this in a smoothie maker. Turn it in to the same pan.
Now take a seprate pan,add 1 tsp oil and add peas and mushrooms to this saute this for 5 minute or till cooked but still crunchy to the bite.
Add these to the puree and put it back on the flame ,at this stage you can add a tsp of honey and blend it well ,and if you feel like add some fresh cream and serve with either tandoori roti or phulka or naan .