Mushroom Confidential. Top Secret and Very Hush Hush..It's Not Chicken!

    One of my favorite scenes in one of my favorite movies  LA Confidential involves the phrase ?hookers cut to look like movie stars.?  A gem of a scene, it involves earnest Guy Pearce in  the mother of all mistaken identity messes with the real Lana Turner. He thought he couldn?t be fooled. He was.
 
I , on the other hand have always been fascinated by one food that looks like another. I am a sucker for such things. So when I ran across an Indian recipe that called for mushrooms to be cooked like chicken, I was so there. I couldn?t wait to give it a try. A Meatless Monday dish is always a hit around our house, and since fresh spring mushrooms were on sale at $1.99 a pound, it was to economical to resist.
  About mushrooms and Indian food, even though they may not seem to be a natural fit, they are. Indian recipe collections are filled with mushroom dishes of all heats and varities from the various regions of the subcontinent. This particular recipe comes from Sanjeev Kapoor one of the most celebrated Indian chefs, and his new book How To Cook Indian. This is an easy recipe that uses a paste of spices to quickly cook ordinary white mushrooms.
You know, the ones that don't cost and arm and a leg to purchase. This is not for the portobellos or the shitakes or the hedgehogs or God forbid the Chantereles.These are the plain Jane white or brown, everyday variety mushrooms.
   Once the paste is assembled, the mushrooms can be cooked in a just a few minutes. It makes a great fast side dish alongside well? real chicken, or you can eat it as we did, accompanied by a couple of tasty vegetarian side dishes. It also seems made for basmati rice though I haven?t tried it that way yet. But believe me I?m going to. Soon. And often!

Here?s my adaptation of this dish:

1 lb of white mushrooms quartered8 whole cloves1/2 tsp of fennel seed1 1/2 Tbs of coriander seed1 small cinnamon stick2 pieces of star anise1/4 tsp of mace4 dried red chilies broken into pieces1/4 tsp of ground nutmeg1/2 tsp of cumin seed1 or 2 large shallots3 red onions2 Tbs of vegetable oil1 Tbs of white poppy seeds1 1/2 tsp of salt1 Tbs of tamarind pulp (or lemon juice)10 whole peppercorns1 cup grated dried unsweetened coconutwatercilantro  It's that easy! No kidding. Serve it with a salad or rice and another vegetable dish and you've got a hearty, flavorful and above all inexpensive dish. Even the most devoted meat eaters won't miss the chicken. Coming up next a trip to opening night of the Sonoma Farmers Market, and local vegetables go Indian. Follow along on Twitter @kathygori