In-a-Hurry Mushroom Curry

David and I made a scrumptious mushroom curry last night. We loosely followed a recipe from the San Jose Mercury News "West" magazine from January 19th, 1997, omitting what we didn't have on hand or don't like, and adding other ingredients at will. The recipe in the article ("Curry is always in favor") was itself adapted from a cookbook by Madhur Jaffrey.

A good pound of crimini 'shrooms, carefully washed and sliced by hand.
Onion, fresh garlic and ginger, minced together in the food processor.
Some fresh tomatoes and added tomato paste.
Baby carrot rounds.
We didn't have any yogurt, so we substituted cream.
An impromptu mix of spices: ground coriander, cardamom, turmeric, cinnamon, curry powder, and cumin. For some reason, I had been under the illusion that cumin smelled and tasted bad. Au contraire, opening the little glass bottle and waving it under my nose transported me to a fine Indian restaurant. Yum! We threw some in. I think I may have been thinking of caraway.

Quickly cook it all up in some sizzling oil, place over fragrant rice, with some perfectly steamed, bright green broccoli on the side...mmmmm.