Shitake Mushroom and Vegetable Curry Rice:

A wonderful aromatic, easy to make vegetarian curry rice recipe, made with the immune boosting shitake mushrooms, that you can make at your home in 30 minutes.

White Basmati Rice: 1 ~ 1 ¼ cups

Shitake Mushrooms, chopped:  ¼ cup
Green or Yellow Bell Pepper: ¼ cup

Peas: ¼ cup

Fresh Carrots, chopped: ¼ cup (optional for nice color contrast)
Cloves:  2
Whole Cardamom: 2
Cinnamon: 2 small pieces
Onion, sliced:  2 medium sized
Fresh Ginger, crushed:  ¼ inch piece
Fresh Garlic clove, crushed:  3
Dry Red Chili powder:  ¼ tablespoon
Turmeric powder:  ¼ teaspoon
Fresh Cilantro leaves, chopped: 1 tablespoon
Fresh Green chili:  3
Water:  2 ½ cups
Ghee (Clarified butter) or butter: 3 tablespoons
Salt To taste

Preparation:

1. Heat ghee or butter in an open pressure cooker or pan, then add the cloves, cardamoms, cinnamon, sliced onions and Sautee for a 3~4 minutes until golden brown.

2. Next add ginger and garlic and Sautee till you get a nice aroma (couple of minutes)

3. Add the rice, stir for a while, then add vegetables, chili powder, turmeric powder,
coriander leaves, green chilies, salt and water.

4. Close the cooker lid and pressure cook for 5 minutes and wait for 20 minutes before opening or if cooking in a pan, close the lid and cook in medium to low heat for 20~30 minutes (Add more water if necessary)

Serving Suggestion:

Remove from heat and serve hot with raita or yogurt sauce (1 cup Yogurt with 2 tablespoons shredded carrots, ¼ cup of water, pinch of fresh black pepper and salt to taste) and 1 teaspoon of Indian pickle.

Now relax and enjoy this wonderful dish.