ZUCCHINI POSTO: BREAKING EVERY RULE OF THE POSTO CODE

On days which are grey, your mind turn even greyer. No, I am not obsessing over 50 shades of Grey nor have I found any Christian Grey in real life. Its just this mundane grey-ness which is souring my mood for the last few days. The Weather Gods and their over abundance of rain and cloudy skies over the Kansas City skyline are the biggest culprits in this regard. They are almost resembling a D-grade villain from a C-grade Bollywood Masala flick.All this greyness and the induced crazy mind set, made me step out of my comfort zone big time. No, I did not attempt a sky-dive like the recent sky-diving update clogging all our news feed everywhere. I landed up doing something which will surely earn me the wrath of the Chatterjee Culinary Queens. I dared to cook Posto with holud(turmeric), onion and kalo jeere(nigella seeds/kalonji). I have broken every rule of the Posto Code. For the household I have grown up in, its like committing a culinary harakiri. No, I was not intoxicated. I was fully aware of what I was doing, so cannot blame some spirit for my actions. There are days when one just acts crazy.

Some might ask, what the heck is the so-called Posto Code??? Well, its the unwritten Bible about the way Posto is cooked in Bong households. To be more specific, in Ghoti (West Bengali rather than East Bengali ) households. The code commandeth that Posto should be ground with a  few green chilies. When it comes to the actual cooking, then a dash of mustard oil, a handful of diced potatoes and salt should do the trick. Other ingredients should not overwhelm the signature flavor of Posto itself. And definitely never any turmeric. A whitish dry subzi which is always enjoyed with either Arhar(Toor) Daal or Kalai er Daal. And to think I dared to break this supreme Culinary Code.

I had picked up Zuchinis as I wanted to grill them with some Malai Kebabs. Both me and Hubby have been pushing each other, to marinate the kebabs, but both have been upto other things. So I decided that the kebabs could wait and lemme try something Bong with these veggies.I had dug into this dish,Zucchini-Aloo Posto this Summer, during the long East Coast trip. The taste had lingered on, and on this grey day, I decided, why not !! I had never asked the lady, how she had made her Zucchini-Aloo Posto, so I just cooked from my memory of the taste and ingredients. I decided to cook by my instinct, giving a damn to every established notion. If I can be a non-conformist in so many other aspects of life, can I not be that when it comes to cooking with an ingredient ? ! So here's my disclaimer. This is not a bid to woo anyone or to hurt some one's culinary sentiments. It's just a different day at the Bong kitchen. As long as the food's tasty, I believe in wasting no time, and polishing it off. That is exactly what I did, with the Zucchini -Aloo Posto, with some Bhaat and leftover Kalai er Daal. A vegetarian weeknight dinner, which was pretty satisfying.

ZUCCHINI ALOO POSTO : ZUCCHINI AND POTATOES TOSSED IN A POPPY SEED SAUCE 

Ingredients: 
Poppy Seeds: 5-6 tbsp
Green Chilies: 2-3(adjust according to heat preferences)
Turmeric: 1 tsp
Red Chili Powder: 1 tsp
Zucchini: 2 : diced
Potatoes: 1 large: diced
Onion: 1 medium sized one: sliced finely
Kalo Jeere/Kalonji/Nigella seeds: 1 tsp
Mustard Oil: 2 tbsp plus 1 tsp
Salt: to taste

Procedure: 

Soak the poppy seeds in some luke warm water for about an hour at least. Grind the poppy seeds till they form a thick white paste, in the blender. I made the mistake of adding a bit too much water.

In a large non stick pan, add in the mustard oil and let it get hot. Add in the kalo jeere. Wait for them to splutter and then add in the sliced onion. Cook on medium heat till the onion starts to caramelise.

Once the onion slices have started to change color, add in the diced zucchini and potatoes. Make sure that all the veggies are cut around the same size, so that they are cooked uniformly. Add some turmeric powder and let them caramelise around the edges. Make sure that you keep stirring infrequently.

Add in the Posto Bata or the Poppy Seed paste. Mine was bit too runny.

Add in the salt and red chili powder. Mix well. Cook for around 2-3 minutes  Then add just enough water  to dunk the veggies. Cover and cook and keep stirring frequently.

Keep checking for veggies, so that they do not turn mushy. My poppy paste was a bit too runny, so I did not add too much water.

This is a dry dish, so make sure that you dry up the water. The poppy paste should be coating the veggies and not be runny.

Do a taste test. This dish has a slight kick to it for the red and green chilies.

Turn off the heat. Add in a teaspoon of mustard oil and keep covered, till you are ready to dig in.

Serve with some steamed rice and either Arhar(Toor) Dal or Kalai er Daaal.

Bon Appetit !!!

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POSTO diye PALONG SHAK BHAJA : Fried Spinach with Garlic and Poppy seeds

Weekend afternoons in my maternal home, always meant a serving of hot Mushur Daal(stewed red lentils) and Palong Shak-er Bhaja. Sauteed Spinach was usually the first dish, with which we began the elaborate weekend lunches. Now that my brother and I were too fond of it, when were both very young, but it was a taste which grew on us. Till the point now, when I seriously crave for it on certain days. As a small kid,my brother used to be very excited, when he mixed in the sauteed spinach with his steamed rice, and the rice took on some green colour. Once Ma discovered this, it was much more easier for her to convince him to have his greens, than  me.Memories.

So recently while I was planning on a lunch menu for my Mashi and Mesho, I decided to bring about this old touch from home. Kosha Mangsho(Mutton Curry) and Chingri Bhape(Steamed Prawns in Mustard Sauce) had already been done to go with some steamed Basmati Rice. I was planning on some Mushur daal as well, so why not some Posto diye Palong Shak Bhaja. That would just about round off the Bong meal.We all love our share of Bhaja with Daal, don't we ! I had a bag of  cleaned baby Spinach, which was still quite crisp. I had been planning on turning it into a salad with some boiled eggs, grilled chicken, lemon vinaigrette. But the Spinach had its destiny to go the Bong way.So the Salad plan was shelved and Bhaja was in the party. 

I had seen my Mom make Palong Shak Bhaja in a few ways. Or lets say, she just changed what she added with the Bhaja. At times, it was fried Bori, at times it was some Begun(Eggplant) which was cooked with the Palong Shak, and at times, it was Posto(Poppy Seeds).I decided to opt for the final choice of toppings.The half of Ghoti blood in me, has always had a thing for Posto, in any form. The trick is to add raw poppy seeds to the sauteed spinach, in the final few minutes of cooking. It lends to the texture of the dish as a whole. The problem of cooking with Spinach is that, they reduce in volume, once they have wilted. So you mights tart off with a whole pan of Spinach, and by the time, you are midway, cooking, its become 1/10th of its original volume. As I was cooking for a few people, rather than the usual two of us, I was happy that I had a big bag of spinach at home. This particular dish, works only with raw Spinach, so give the blanched and frozen varitey a miss, when you are making this Bong varitey. No use playing with classics. So I chopped up the Baby Spinach and washed them well.Did not want any gunk or residue hitting the hot pan. The strong Shorsher Tel (Mustard Oil), picked up from the Bangladeshi store was just perfect for this appetizer. Mustard Oil lends a signture flavour and boldness to most Bong dishes, which can never be achieved with Canola Oil.Minced Garlic and dried Red Chilies added the bite to this Bhaja ! Mashi- Mesho loved the touch of Posto to the Shak Bhaja and I was beaming as I waltzed into the Chingri Machh Bhape. 

POSTO diye PALONG SHAK BHAJA: 


Ingredients: 
Baby Spinach: Chopped: 300gms (increase it accordingly)
Dried Red Chilies: 2-3
Minced Garlic: 1 tbsp
Shorsher Tel(Mustrad Oil): 3-4 tbsp
Salt: to taste
Poppy seeds: 4-5 tbsp
Panch phoron: A pinch

Procedure: 
Wash the poppy seeds very well,and soak them in water for around an hour.

Drain away the water from the washed spinach

Add the oil to a pan and wait for it heat up a bit. Do not let it smoke. Add in the panch phoron in the hot oil. Break the dried red chilies in two and toss them into the pan.

Once the spices start crackling, add in the minced garlic. Fry it a bit, but do not let the garlic get burnt. Garlic has a tendency to get burnt very fast, and there is nothing worse than burnt garlic in any dish. 

Once you can smell the aroma of garlic from the pan, start adding in the spinach.season it with salt. Toss it around, and make sure all the spinach is coated well with the oil in the pan.

Cook for around 5-7 minutes till you see that the spinach has wilted totally. 

Do a taste test. If the spinach tastes cooked, then turn off the heat. Drain the poppy seeds, and add them, and mix well. The poppy seeds add a nice crunch to the dish and lend to the overall taste very well. Its all about a little bit of decadence in the first course itself.

Its perfect with some steamed Basmati rice and Mushur daal !! Its a very simple dish, with minimal prep work and minimal ingredients, but packs in a punch big time.

Bon Appetit !!

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