Mushroom Masala is an easy and delicious restaurant-style Indian curry recipe made with onions, tomato, mushrooms, green peas (matar), and spices cooked in an Instant Pot pressure cooker with pot-in-pot rice. This mushroom curry is vegan, gluten-free, low-carb, and can be made keto-friendly.
Growing up, my mom never cooked mushrooms at home. It was only after moving to the USA that I started eating and cooking mushrooms myself. Some of my favorite mushroom recipes are mushroom pepper fry, mushroom fried rice, cream of mushroom soup, and mushroom biryani.
Today, I am sharing an easy and delicious mushroom masala curry. I like to use white button mushrooms for this recipe. However, you can use any mushrooms. Pairs well with roti, paratha, basmati rice, or jeera rice. You can cook it in Instant Pot electric pressure cooker, or stovetop pot. Gets ready in under 30 minutes for a quick weeknight dinner.
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How to Clean Mushrooms?
Use a damp cloth/paper towel or a soft mushroom brush to wipe each mushroom, to remove any dirt or black spots—clean one mushroom at a time.
If you don't have time to clean them one by one, lightly rinse them for a few seconds with cold water, drain the water, and pat them dry with a clean towel. Then, mushrooms are ready for use. Always use organic mushrooms.
Mushroom Masala Recipe Ingredients
- Mushrooms: I have used organic white button mushrooms. You can also use Baby Bella or Shiitake Mushrooms.
- Green Peas: It's optional, used frozen green peas.
- Onion, tomato, garlic, and ginger: I used roughly diced onions, tomatoes, garlic, and ginger, for the base. You can also substitute diced tomatoes with canned diced, or crushed tomatoes.
- Herbs & Spices: I used freshly chopped coriander leaves for herbs and cumin seeds, turmeric powder, red chili powder, coriander powder, garam masala as spices.
- Cream: I used cashew cream. It is prepared by soaking 10-12 cashews in hot water for 10 to 15 minutes and then blending to a smooth paste with ¼ cup of water. You can also use fresh cream.
How to Make Mushroom Masala in Instant Pot
Making Cashew Paste: Soak 10-12 cashews in hot water for 10 to 15 minutes. Then, puree in a blender to a smooth paste with ¼ cup water. Keep it aside.
Add 1 medium diced onion, 2 large tomatoes, 1 inch ginger, 3 garlic cloves, and 1 green chili in a blender and blend without adding water to make a smooth puree. Keep it aside.
Press SAUTE mode on Instant Pot. Heat 2 tablespoons oil, add 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds, and let them splutter.
Next, add the pureed onion-tomato mixture, and cook for around 3-4 minutes until the raw smell disappears.
Then add all the dry spices like ¼ teaspoon turmeric, ½ teaspoon red chili powder, 1 teaspoon coriander powder, ½ teaspoon garam masala, and salt. Stir to combine.
Scrape the bottom and deglaze the pot. This step is crucial to ensure you don't get the burn notice when you pressure cook.
Add in the 3 cups of sliced white mushrooms (about 8 oz), ½ cup green peas (frozen), and ½ cup water. Combine gently with the masala.
Note: You can also do pot-in-pot cooking with Instant pot (PIP). This means you can cook multiple things at the same time. Place the trivet and then the bowl of basmati rice with water. This way, they will both curry and rice will cook together.
Close the lid securely, and turn the vent to "SEALING". Select the PRESSURE COOK/MANUAL (High Pressure) setting and set the cooking time to 4 minutes.
When the pot beeps, Do a quick pressure release. Open the lid.
Then add cashew cream, 1.5 teaspoons crushed Kasuri methi, 2 tablespoons coriander leaves, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, and mix well. Simmer the curry for 2 to 3 minutes, and the curry will thicken.
Instant pot Mushroom Masala is ready.
Stovetop Pot Method
- Follow the same instructions as the Instant Pot for the stovetop pot and cook it covered on medium-low heat until mushrooms are tender. Stir 2-3 times in between to avoid burning. Note: When sauting onion-tomato puree, cook until the raw smell disappears and the oil oozes out.
- Once the mushrooms are tender, add cashew cream, crushed kasuri methi, coriander leaves, lemon juice, and mix well. Simmer the curry for 2 to 3 minutes, the curry will thicken. Mushroom Peas Masala is ready.
What to Serve with Mushroom Curry?
Serve Mushroom Matar masala with
- Indian bread like rotis, naan, parathas, or poori.
- Basmati rice, jeera rice, quinoa, coconut rice, or cauliflower rice with kachumber or pickle on the side.
Storage Suggestions
- Refrigerate: Store the leftover mushroom masala curry in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2-3 days.
- Freeze: You can freeze this curry for up to 1 month in a freezer-safe, airtight container. However, mushrooms might get a little watery once thawed.
- Reheat: Reheat the mushroom masala on the stovetop or in the microwave oven. If frozen, thaw the curry overnight in the refrigerator and reheat.
Variations
You can make a simple mushroom curry in many ways, such as
- Keto: You can substitute green peas with bell peppers or just use mushrooms. You can use almond paste, coconut cream, or heavy cream instead of cashew cream for a low-carb or keto-friendly diet. Also, use a moderate amount of onions and tomatoes for keto-adaptation.
- Protein: Add paneer (Indian cottage cheese), tofu, or canned or cooked chickpeas to the mushroom mutter masala curry for an extra protein boost.
- Green: You can also stir in some spinach leaves, or kale towards the end of the cooking time.
Frequently Asked Questions
I used homemade cashew cream. You may use heavy cream, coconut cream, or even full-fat coconut milk to make it creamy.
Yes, this mushroom curry is vegan.
Mushrooms like the white button, oyster, shiitake, and portobello are low in carbs, making them great for a low-carb diet. Just skip green peas and substitute cashew cream with coconut cream or heavy cream to make it low-carb friendly.
Yes, you can use canned diced or crushed tomatoes.
If you like curries, then check out more Instant Pot Indian Curry recipes
Mushroom Masala (Instant Pot & Stovetop)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 8 oz organic white mushrooms sliced (about 3 cups)
- ½ cup green peas (optional)
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 1 medium red onion roughly diced (about 1 cup)
- 1 inch ginger chopped
- 3 large garlic cloves
- 1 green chili
- 2 large tomatoes roughly diced (about 1.5 cups)
- ½ teaspoon red chili powder
- ½ teaspoon garam masala
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin (jeera seeds)
- salt to taste
- ½ cup water
- 1.5 teaspoon kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves) crushed (optional)
- 2 tablespoons coriander leaves chopped
- juice of ½ lemon
For Cashew Cream
- 10-12 cashews soaked in hot water for 10-15 minutes and then blended to a smooth paste with ¼ cup water
Instructions
Instant Pot Method:
- Making Cashew Paste: Soak 10-12 cashews in hot water for 10 to 15 minutes. Then puree in a blender to a smooth paste along with ¼ cup water. Keep it aside.
- Add diced onions, tomatoes, ginger, garlic, and green chili in a blender and blend without adding water to make a smooth puree. Keep it aside.
- Press SAUTE mode on Instant Pot. Heat oil, add cumin seeds, and let them splutter.Next, add the pureed onion-tomato mixture, and cook for around 3-4 minutes until the raw smell disappears.
- Then add all the dry spices like turmeric, red chili powder, coriander powder, garam masala, and salt. Stir to combine. Scrape the bottom and deglaze the pot. This step is crucial to ensure you don't get the burn notice when you pressure cook.
- Add in the sliced mushrooms, peas, and water. Combine gently with the masala.Note: You can also use do Pot-in-Pot Cooking or PIP. This means you can cook multiple things at the same time. Place the trivet and then the bowl of basmati rice with water. This way, they will both curry and rice will cook together.
- Close the lid securely, and turn the vent to "SEALING". Select the PRESSURE COOK/MANUAL (High Pressure) setting and set the cooking time to 4 minutes.
- When the pot beeps, Do a Quick pressure release before opening the lid.
- Then add cashew cream, crushed Kasuri methi, coriander leaves, lemon juice, and mix well. Simmer the curry for 2 to 3 minutes, and the curry will thicken.
- Mushroom Masala is ready, serve with naan, chapatis, roti or hot basmati rice.
Stovetop Method:
- Follow the same instructions till step 5 in a stovetop pot/pan and cook covered on medium-low heat till mushrooms are tender. Stir 2-3 times in between to avoid burning. Note: when you are sauting onion-tomato puree, cook until the raw smell disappears and oil oozes out.
- Once the mushrooms are tender, add cashew cream, crushed kasuri methi, coriander leaves, lemon juice, and mix well. Simmer the curry for 2 to 3 minutes, the curry will thicken. Mushroom Peas Masala is ready, serve with Naan, chapatis, roti, or hot basmati rice.
Notes
Variations
You can make a simple mushroom curry in many ways, such as- KETO: You can replace peas with bell pepper or use just mushrooms for the keto diet. You can also use almond paste, coconut cream, heavy cream instead of cashew cream.
- PROTEIN: Add some paneer (cottage cheese), chickpeas to the mushroom mutter masala curry.
- GREEN: You can also stir in some spinach leaves towards the end of the cooking time.
- OIL: You can also use olive oil or any cooking oil for this mushroom recipe.
Nutrition
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Shannon Nykaza
Simple, delicious recipe!
Bhavana Patil
Thank you so much 🙂
Ritika
Want to make this. But any suggestions to what to eat this (other than roti )with as rice is high carbs. Many thanks.
Bhavana Patil
Hi Ritika, You can eat with How To Make Cauliflower Rice (2 Ways) or all make low carb roti using almond flour or coconut flour. If you are not on Keto diet, you can also eat with quinoa. Hope this helps
Wendy S.
I made this last night and loved it! So easy and I was thrilled to have everything on hand to make it. I love that it is so fresh. I did leave out the peas because I didn't have those and added some paneer and spinach because I did have those ingredients! Thanks for sharing!
bhavana
Thank you so much Wendy for trying out the recipe & sharing such honest feedback ? I just loved your improvisation, making great use of the ingredients you had ? Love to hear more from you, when you try other recipes on the blog ? Happy cooking - Naveen/Bhavana ?