Ulog #194: Creamy Mushroom Ragu

One of my favorite things to cook are stews or stuff that you need to simmer with a sauce. I like how you need to build flavor on the various layers to the dish and although everything is in one pot, a good ragu/stew isn't just simply dumping everything into a pot.

In this recipe, I make a mushroom ragu with some locally found spices as it's common and easy to find this herbs and spices which makes shopping for the ingredients and cooking a whole lot easier.

I start with slicing red onions which I think when cooked are sweeter than yellow/white onions. The are more pungent when raw but when you cook it down low and slow, it caramelises in it's own natural sugars and gives you a wonderful sweetness to the dish.

I also mince up garlic and fry these 2 until soften and fragrant. Oh I use a garlic infused oil which I had laying around from something I cooked earlier. You can use whatever oil you like or butter.

I then add in shredded oyster mushrooms which are inexpensive and has a considerably neutral flavor compared to most mushrooms which are very earthy in flavor. This one is milder and a great base for soaking up whatever else you're gonna add into the pot.

Next I add in a blend of dry spices of fennel powder, fenugreek powder, cumin powder, corriander powder, turmeric powder, white pepper, smoked paprika and seasoned with some salt and black pepper powder.

You could use other blends of herbs and spices for this and they'll taste great as well. Just remember to add the spices in proportion to your mushrooms because being too heavy handed with dried spices as it can turn out bitter.

I also add in some dried oregano. Not too heavy handed as dried oregano is very strong and intense in flavor. So just a bit goes a long way.

Cook this for about 5-7 minutes until the mushrooms have softened then add in cream cheese! This makes all the difference, giving you a creamy and velvety feel to the ragu.

Mix the cream cheese in and then add some milk. I use full cream milk here but you can use cream as well.

Simmer for another 2-3 minutes on low heat and you're done!

Serve this over some rice or bread. In my case I used it as a topping for a cheeseburger on my food truck which I will be posting in my next blog post :D

Hope this inspires you to try out cooking a ragu in your own kitchen. Bless ya and have a good week ahead!

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