Taro Root and Portobello Mushroom Makhani with Saffron Rice

Makhani is a Hindi word meaning "with butter". It is used in the names of several dishes from  Punjabi Cuisine. Dal Makhani: made from beans and pulses. Paneer Makhani made from the Indian cheese also known as Paneer butter Masala and Murgh Makhani also known as "Butter Chicken"

This recipe for the gravy can be used for any Makhani curry for example Paneer Makhani, Methi Matar Makhani and .Chicken Makhani (Butter chicken), Except that to make Chicken you have to marinate the chicken for several hours in yogurt and spice mixture before grilling or cooking it. (therefore you will have to make extra yogurt mixture for the marinade)
I fell in love with Taro Root all over again after our trip to Hawaii in 2014.  I have posted other recipes with Taro root earlier and have given description for Taro root in those recipe so I am not going to go over it again.  I wanted to make this gravy with Taro root and Portebello mushroom. Both of these veggies have a body and  texture to it that I thought would go well with this curry and I was right, this came out delish !! I made saffron rice with it. basically same way that I make Basmati rice in Microwave (recipe on this blog) except I added 1/4 tesaspoon of saffron and little bit of butter along with olive oil before cooking.   Lately I have been buying Zafrani  Basmati Rice from Costco and they are amazingly good with great nutty Basmati rice flavor and  extra long grains. If you haven't tried it I highly recommend it ! 

 Ingredients:

• 1 pack of sliced large Portobello mushrooms 
• 1/2 (4 oz) pack of sliced baby Portobello mushrooms 
• 1 yellow  onions
• 1  red onion
• 2 fresh green chili peppers (I used 1 large Jalapeno)
• 6 taro root tubers
• 1 teaspoon of ground ginger
• 4-5 garlic cloves finely chopped 
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 tbl spoon of butter
• 1/8 teaspoon of asefoetida (optional if you don't have it is okay)
• 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
• 4 green cardamom pods
• 2 black cardamom pods
• 2" stick of cinnamon
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 pods of dry red peppers
• 1/2 teaspoon of fenugreek seeds (optional) 
• 4 cloves
• 1 cup of plain yogurt 
• 1 cup of fat free sour cream
• 2 cups of crushed tomatoes
• 1 cup of Heavy whipping cream
• 7-8 cashew soaked in water and ground to fine paste (optional, I did not use them this time)
• 2 tbl spoon of coriander powder
• 1 teaspoon of garam masala
• 1 teaspoon of Turmeric powder
• 1 tbl spoon of Paprika
• 1 teaspoon of Cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon of coarsely ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoon of cumin powder
• 1/4 teaspoon of  crushed saffron
• 2 teaspoon of Salt or  to taste  
• 2 cups of water
• 1/2  teaspoon of dried Fenugreek leaves (Kasoori Methi) (optional, I did not use it because my son does not like it)

For garnish:  (optional, you may simply garnish with chopped cilantro and drizzle some cream, but I wanted to garnish with sauteed onions mushroom to extra flavor, you may omit this step)

• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• One yellow finely chopped onion
• 1/2 (4 oz) pack of sliced baby Portebello mushrooms
• One bunch of cilantro washed and chopped  
• Some extra heavy cream for drizzle if desired.

  Method:

• Wash and peel Taro root and cut or slice them in to desired rounds or cubes.
• You can pressure cook these sliced Taro root or cook them in microwave for 25-30 min with water deep enough in a pan so the slices are totally submerged in water.
• I add some salt to the taro root and water before cooking in microwave or pressure cooker.
• I used microwave a lot to cook my veggies and potatoes.
• While taro root is cooking you can prep for gravy as follows.
• Place sliced onions, ginger, garlic, and chili in food processor and puree and set aside. You may choose to puree ginger, garlic and chili separate and onion separate for better preserved flavor but I did it all together.
• In a bowl whisk yogurt and sour cream together until smooth texture.
• Add dried coriander powder, turmeric, paprika, garam masala, black pepper, cuyyenne pepper, ground cumin to this yogurt and mix well, set aside.
• In another bowl mix crush tomatoes  and  cashew paste along with dried fenugreek leaves (Kasoori Methi) and puree it with hand blender, set aside.
• In a sauce pan heat oil and butter together.
• When oil is hot,  add cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, when these crackle, add asefoetida.
• Immediately bay leaves, green and black cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and dried red pepper pods.
• Add onion, ginger, garlic and chili puree and saute on medium heat until light brown.
• Then add sliced large portobello mushrooms and half of baby portobello mushroom and saute for additional 2 min.
• Add yogurt and spice mix and cook for 2 min.
• Add cashew and  tomato puree.
• Add crushed saffron.
• Cook for additional 2 min, then add cooked taro root, add water and cook for additional 5 min or until it boils.
• Add cream last and mix well. Turn the stove off.

For garnish:  (optional)

• In another pan heat 1 tablespoon of oil and add chopped onions, saute until light brown.
• Add another half of sliced baby portobello mushroom.
• You can garnish this on each serving along with finely chopped cilantro and drizzle some cream. 

 Serve hot with Naan and Saffron rice.
Enjoy !!

Makhani definition info source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makhani
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_Attribution-ShareAlike_3.0_Unported_License
Recipe and Photographs by Surekha.

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