Mushroom Salt and Pepper | Quick & Easy Appetizers

Appetizers should be quick & easy to prepare. Dont you all agree with me?! I am not a big fan of fried goodies and as much as I detest making them at home, the husband loves only to eat such stuff. At times, I give in and make some of his favorites but then there are also times I convince the family for healthy starters. Starters/Appetizers need not necessarily be deep fried and loaded with calories. It can as well be easy to make, carrying low calories without compromising on the taste. Today’s recipe is one such find – Mushroom Salt and Pepper.

My first encounter with this dish is in a restaurant called Zaitoon in Chennai. The sister and I are recent mushroom lovers (our love affair with mushrooms started post marriage) and we ordered this Mushroom Salt and Pepper off their menu. The resultant dish was nothing like I expected. It was not deep fried, it was not oily, it was not overpowering with pepper and above all, it was super tasty. I made a mental note to prepare it at home and then duly forgot about it. Last week, I had a pack of mushrooms lying in the refrigerator and out of sheer boredom, I ended up making this dish. To everyone’s surprise, it turned out great. Infact, the husband who loves only deep fried starters was looking of more of this Mushroom Salt and Pepper. Means nothing but a huge win at my kitchen 😀 As the name suggests, the mushrooms are sautéed with salt and fresh cracked pepper. For additional spiciness, I added green chillies and it was just fine to cut through the sweetness of the onions and mushrooms. This can be served hot as an appetizer or even as a side dish.

Checkout some of the other healthy snack recipes from my blog!

To make Mushroom Salt and Pepper

Servings: 2
Time: 20 mins
Difficulty: Easy
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What I used –

Mushrooms, 200 gms/15 - 20 (I used button mushrooms)
Onion, 1 large
Ginger Garlic Paste, ¾^th tsp
Green Chillies, 1 or 2
Curry Leaves, a few
Salt, as required
Black Peppercorns, ½ teaspoon or more
Oil, 1 tsp

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How I made –

1. In a pan, heat oil. Add curry leaves and slit green chillies. Fry for 10-15 secs. Add finely chopped onions and fry until translucent.

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2. Add ginger garlic paste and fry on low flame until the raw smell is gone. Add chopped/diced mushrooms. Cook on low flame until mushrooms are ½ done.

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3. Add salt required and continue to cook until all the water content in mushrooms evaporate. When it looks dry, add freshly ground peppercorns on top. Don’t add pepper powder – use a mortar/pestle to roughly powder the peppercorns.

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4. Serve hot immediately. Optionally, lemon juice can be squeezed on top.

Note –

Button mushrooms work well for this recipe as they are juicy and meaty. Any other variant can be used as well.
Adjust green chillies as per additional spiciness required.
I used a little more than ½ teaspoon of black peppercorns and powdered them in a mortar/pestle. Don’t add pepper powder as the taste is not the same.
Curry leaves add a good fragrance to the dish and are high recommended to take off the smell of mushrooms.
Additionally, finely chopped ginger can be used. It adds to the spiciness, so a word of caution beforehand 🙂
Cook the mushrooms until there is no more water from the mushrooms left. Cook on low flame to avoid burning/charring at the bottom.

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