Steakhouse Blues

Well, I didn’t really suffer from them years ago when I gave up eating non vegetarian food. I would attribute it to the fact that I was, in any case, a rather sporadic meat eater. Never having developed a liking for seafood and eating meat only on occasion made me virtually a vegetarian before I actually turned into one (except for eggs). The only non veg dish I missed was the Goan Roast Beef that my aunt used to cook and the Pepper Steak at Fountain Sizzlers in Mumbai.

Of late, I was wondering if we vegetarians could get a close enough substitute to the original pepper steak that would be as tasty as the real McCoy. I found this recipe by The Chubby Vegetarian which I then adapted based on the ingredients that I could find here locally. The original recipe calls for Portobello mushrooms, but these are something I wasn’t able to locate anywhere in Mumbai (surprisingly!). I made do with the Porcini variety, which also gives a nice, meaty texture when cooked.



Mushroom Steak
(serves two)

Ingredients

Porcini mushrooms – 1 jar (prepare them as per instructions)

For the Marinade

Roasted tomatoes – 1 no
Garlic – 4 cloves (peeled and roughly mashed)
Onion – 1 no
Olive oil – ½ cup
Juice of 1 lemon
Ajwain – ½ tsp
Cracked pepper – to taste
Salt – to taste

For the Sauce

Garlic – 3 cloves (peeled and roughly mashed)
Onion – 1 no (chopped fine)
Flour – 2 tbsp
Butter – 2 tbsp
Olive oil – 1 tsp
Vegetable stock – 1 cup
Cracked pepper – to taste
Salt – to taste

Method

1. Combine all the ingredients for the marinade, except the olive oil, and blend until smooth
2. Gradually drizzle in the oil and continue to blend till completely mixed in
3. Coat the prepared mushrooms with this marinade, cover and refrigerate for 2-3 hours
4. Melt the butter and oil till it stops bubbling
5. Add the flour and stir constantly till browned
6. Add onion and garlic and cook till translucent
7. Add pepper & stock and allow to thicken to the required consistency
8. Grill the marinated mushrooms
9. Assemble on a serving plate with the sauce spooned on top
10. Sprinkle a dash of cracked pepper

I chose to serve my faux steak with a side of mashed potatoes and caramelized onions. I am sending this experiment to Blog Bites #2 – The Copycat Edition being hosted at One Hot Stove.

My tips:

1. If you don’t have any stock on hand, you could dissolve a Maggi cube in one cup of water. The salt content in the cube is rather high, so be careful while seasoning. You may not need to add any more salt

2. The Porcini mushrooms I used are available at the Godrej Nature’s Basket outlets. Anyone knowing where I could get Portobello mushrooms in Mumbai, do let me know by leaving a comment. Thanks