I clearly remember the first time I heard about Morel Mushrooms or Gucchi. We were at one of Delhi’s high-end restaurants for a special family dinner. My dad saw Gucchi on the menu and his eyes lit up! It was one of the most expensive dishes on the menu and I wondered why! But I loved (and still love) mushrooms and so we enthusiastically ordered the dish and waited in anticipation. When the dish finally arrived, I was disappointed to see 3 pieces of mushrooms floating in the gravy. My parent’s enthusiasm could not be squashed though. They gave 1 piece each to me and my brother and shared 1 among themselves, savoring each bite.
Many years later, I saw my dad’s eyes light up again. This time, we were at our local farmer’s market, standing in front of a Mushroom Stand selling a mind boggling variety of mushrooms, including Morels. We returned from the trip with a bag full of morels and empty wallets.
My Dad’s Gucchi Pulao was the star at dinner that evening…
Morels have a delicate, earthy flavor and so this dish calls for minimal ingredients that simply play a supporting role. It can be cooked with dried or fresh morels, although dried variety is more easily available online at amazon, walmart, etsy.
Morel Pulao
Description
Delicately flavored rice cooked with Morels and whole spices
Ingredients
Method
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Soak the rice and dried morels in separate bowls for 30 minutes to 2 hours. When you are ready to start cooking, strain the rice out of the water. Also strain the morels but retain the water.
Fresh morels do not need to be soaked. -
Heat half of the ghee in a sauce pan. Add the rice and gently stir till it is coated with the ghee. Pour rice in a bowl and keep aside.
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In the same pan, heat remaining ghee. Add whole spices and saute till fragrant. Add sliced onions and sauté till they are translucent.
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Add Kashmiri red chili powder, followed by a splashes of water to ensure it doesn't burn. Stir until the onions are coated with bright red color.
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Add morels and saute gently till mushrooms are coated with spices.
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Add rice, water and saffron and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low-medium, cover partially for 8 minutes or until rice is done and water has evaporated.
This step can also be done in an Instant Pot or a stove top pressure cooked. If you are using an Instant pot, reduce water to 1.5 times the quantity of rice. Cook on manual pressure cooking setting for 5 minutes and allow natural release of pressure. [These settings are based on the 3qt instant pot] If you are using a pressure cooker, cook for 1 whistle.