I LOVE tandoori food. Indian barbeques are exceptional. The marinades and the flavour of the charred paneer, broccoli, peppers and mushrooms are just unparalleled! Living in Mumbai, I unfortunately don’t have the luxury of having an outdoor barbeque. So I used this recipe for from the April 2011 Vogue, ‘The New Indian Kitchen’ write up on Anjum Anand and instead of being able to put it on a ‘tandoor’, I grilled it. It was surprisingly simple and gave phenomenal results!
To start off, prepare the marinade by mixing together garlic and ginger paste. Then add the red chili powder, the garam masala, cumin and season to taste (I left out black pepper). Add lime juice and olive oil. Mix well and coat the selection of mushrooms (shitake, oyster, button, chestnut mushrooms) which have been cleaned and cut into bit sized portions.
Let it sit for a good half hour, or you ca even prepare this the night before and cover and refrigerate so the flavours really seep into the mushrooms.
Arrange the clean baby spinach leaves on a wide plate or salad bowl, crumble over the crushed walnut and grate the crumble goats cheese evenly coat the leaves. You can put this to chill in the fridge.
Prepare the dressing for the salad by combining the cider vinegar (I used apple), extra virgin olive oil, Dijon mustard, water and finely sliced or chopped onion. Place the mushrooms over a foil lined baking tray and put it under the grill on full heat. Remove once charred and sizzling. Your kitchen will be overcast with the aromas of the spices working their magic on the mushrooms. Once done, mix the salad with the dressing and place the mushrooms on top and serve immediately!
I couldn’t get my hands on fresh varieties of mushrooms, so in addition to fresh chestnut mushrooms, I added a mixed variety of dried mushrooms (soaked for a few minutes in hot water to fatten them up) to the marinade. 
I must admit, the fresh mushrooms tasted a whole world better than the dried ones. So just used any king of FRESH mushrooms you can get your hands on!
Shopping Bag:
Marinade:
1.5 tsp garlic paste
1.5 tsp Ginger paste
0.5 tsp chili powder
0.75 tsp cumin powder
0.75 tsp garam masala
2 tsp lemon juice
4 tbs olive oil
Salt to taste
Salad:
300 gms mixed mushrooms cleaned and bite sized
100gm baby spinach well washed
100gm rindless crumbly goats cheese
Walnuts handful lightly crushed
Salt and pepper
Dressing:
1 tbs cider or White wine vinegar
3tbs extra virgin olive oil
0.5 tsp Dijon mustard- I used honey mustard
1tsp water
0.5 red onion finely chopped/ sliced
Directions:
- Mix the ingredients for the marinade.
- Clean and cut the mushrooms into 1inch bits, bigger of you like. Toss them in the marinade and make sure each mushroom is fully coated with the marinade. Leave to marinate for 30 minutes.
- Whisk together the dressing. Taste and adjust seasoning to taste and tartness. Place the leaves in a bowl and mix with dressing, add walnuts and goats cheese. Toss to coat.
- Heat the grill to high and grill the mushrooms for 3-4 minutes until lightly charred on each side.
- Place the salad in the serving dish. Put mushrooms on top and serve immediately.
This salad can be served as a side salad in small portions or as a main salad. I enjoyed it with a home cooked Indian meal, the modern-ness of this salad against the classical home cooking was a wonderful balance.
