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Mushroom Chili Sauce

Spicy heat and savory umami note all together gives this Sri Lankan style spicy mushroom chili a flavor funfest in one bite
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 45 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 40 minutes
Servings: 10
Course: Sri Lankan
Cuisine: Asian Sri Lankan
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 1 package Baby portabella mushrooms 24 oz/ 1 package
  • 1 cup shitake mushrooms rehydrated Soak for two hours until rehydrate and dice
Spices
  • 2 tbsp Spanish paprika powder
  • 2 tsp black curry powder
  • 1 tbsp whole black pepper
  • 3 tsp salt
  • pinch nutmeg
  • ¼ tsp mustard seeds
  • 4 cloves
  • 1 tbsp oyster sauce
  • 1 tbsp fish sauce
  • 1 tbsp light soy sauce
  • 2 cups diced tomatoes
  • 1 cup diced red onions
  • 1 inch piece of ginger finely minced
  • 3 cloves garlic finely minced
  • 20 curry leaves finely chopped
  • 3 Thai green peppers finely minced
  • 1 tsp tamarind paste
  • 2 tbsp ghee
  • 1 cup water

Equipment

  • 1 High speed blender
  • 1 Sauté pan

Method
 

  1. Clean the mushrooms with a wet paper towel and slice thin. We are using the stems as well. Nothing gets wasted in this recipe.
  2. Soak the shitake mushrooms to rehydrate and slice them thin as well.
  3. Mince red onion, ginger, garlic, green peppers, curry leaves finely. Set it aside.
  4. Crush ginger and garlic together with the back of knife and give it a fine mince.
  5. Dry roast Spanish paprika powder for couple of minutes. add crushed black pepper and mix all the remaining seasoning powders. Add salt to make a curry blend.
Making the sauce
  1. Heat a sauté' pan on high and heat a couple of tablespoons of ghee until extremely hot. Add mustard seeds. When you can hear the mustard seeds cracking, add onions. Turn the heat to low and fry them until translucent.
  2. Add finely minced ginger and garlic paste. Fry for a few more seconds until soft and translucent.
  3. Add tomatoes and mix everything up. cover and cook until tomatoes are soft and release lot of its juices.
  4. Add curry spice blend and toss to combine. Keep the heat low to prevent the spices from burning. add green hot peppers and curry leaves. Mix, cover and cook for a couple of minutes. Tomatoes will release their juices even more as they cook.
  5. Add1 tbsp oyster sauce, mix in to the base well. Allow a couple of minutes of cooking.
  6. Add mushrooms in batches and combine well with mushroom based pan sauce. Cover and let it cook for 10 minutes on low tossing and turn once to redistribute the sauce. Mushrooms will become soft and release juices a lot as they cook.
  7. Add water and mix everything up well. Increase the heat to medium and cook covered until everything comes to a slow boil. Turn the heat back to low and cook for 40 minutes until everything cooks down well and mushrooms fall apart soft.
  8. Taste and adjust flavors to your liking. It will be on be spicier than a regular curry.
  9. Turn the heat off and puree half of the sauce before adding it back to the sauce. Turn the heat back on to low and cook until everything comes to a boil once and turn the heat off. Alternatively, you can blend using stick blender during the last few minutes of cooking.
  10. Let the sauce cook and pack into airtight containers and store in fridge or freezer.
Reheating the sauce for meals.
  1. Add two tablespoons of the sauce to half a cup of water or coconut milk. heat gently on a small skillet or in microwave on low power. Spoon over eggs, steak tips, or chips.

Notes

This recipe is one of my master sauces. Once done it can go in to flavoring sandwiches and other dishes. It can also last well in the fridge up to two weeks and freezes well.