Cream of mushroom soup, flavored with garam masala

Last week, I talked about the simplicity of the Bengali garam masala; this week's post is a continuation of the same thread. This week, I present a cream of mushroom soup flavored with garam masala rather than with garlic and onion.

This is a strictly vegetarian version (unless you consider fungus as non-vegetarian; I think biologically fungus is a plant) of the cream of mushroom soup, which I became intimately familiar with when I lived in the United States, a decade ago. During those shoestring-budget days (as a graduate student), I often fell back upon a can of Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup (and bread) for dinner.

Here is a low-fat recipe (without cream, thickened with flour instead) for the soup with a Bengali touch:

Ingredients
1 lb. mushroom (almost any kind would do; I used white button)
2 oz. (or four tablespoons) butter, preferably unsalted
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 litre (or 4 cups) milk
1 teaspoon Bengali garam masala (whole, dry-roasted, and ground)
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Wipe the mushrooms with a damp cloth or paper towel, trim the bases of stems, and chop the mushrooms.
2. Heat butter in pan and suate the mushrooms for a 2-3 minutes, until just softened.
3. Add milk and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring once in a while.
4. Stir in flour into a cup of cold water and add to the soup.
5. Simmer for 5 more minutes and season with salt, pepper, and the garam masala.
6. Serve hot with bread.

Serves 4-5

Cream of mushroom soup, a "classic" with a new flavor

Last week, I talked about the simplicity of the Bengali garam masala; this week's post is a continuation of the same thread. This week, I present a cream of mushroom soup flavored with garam masala rather than with garlic and onion.

This is a strictly vegetarian version (unless you consider fungus non-vegetarian; I think biologically fungus is a plant) of the cream of mushroom soup, which I became intimately familiar with when I lived in the United States, a decade ago. During those shoestring-budget days (as a graduate student), I often fell back upon a can of Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup (and bread) for dinner.

Anyway, here is a low-fat recipe (without cream, thickened with flour instead) for the soup with a Bengali touch:

Ingredients

1 lb. mushroom (almost any kind would do; I used white button)
2 oz. (or four tablespoons) butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 litre (or four cups) milk
1 teaspoon Bengali garam masala (whole, dry-roasted, and ground)
salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Wipe the mushrooms with a damp cloth or paper towel and chop them.
2. Heat butter in pan and suate the mushrooms for a 2-3 minutes, until just softened.
3. Add milk and simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Stir in flour into a cup of cold water and add to the soup.
5. Simmer for 5 more minutes and season with salt, pepper, and the garam masala.

Serves 4-5

The Bengali garam masala: Simple, yet elegant

Garam masala is perhaps as common in Indian cuisine as curry. But, there are several blends available in the market; even home-made ones vary from region to region or from home to home. The Bengali garam masala is a simple mixture or blend (often whole ingredients are used rather than ground) of three spices: cardamom, cloves, and cinnamon. Other garam masala blends usually contain at least two of these in addition to several spices, like cumin, coriander, and black pepper.

The Bengali garam masala has a sweet and nutty flavor because of the presence of cinnamon and cardamom and because of the absence of any minty or fennel-like flavors. A common way to add the garam masala to a dish is to sauté a mixture of the whole spices in oil or ghee at the beginning or to dry-roast the mixture, grind it, and sprinkle it on the dish as a finishing touch. Dry-roasting (on stovetop or oven) brings out the flavor, adding a nutty touch to it, and makes it easier to powder the mixture.