Whats Cooking?

I asked a Bengali friend of mine, "yaar Poshto kab khilaogi?" She said, "Is mein khilaana kya hai?!" She enlightened me that poshto, is bengali for "poppy seeds"! Whoda thunk?! So I pestered her to give me some poshto recipe, that Bengali food is so famous for. Here's what she gave me - Aloo Poshto. Very yummy, and easy to make.

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Ingredients:

5 medium sized potatoes
3 table spoon Posto/Khus khus/Poppy seeds (Daata tere kaee naam!)
1 pinch fennel powder
1 teaspoon cumin powder (jeera powder)
a pinch of turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder
1 teaspoon garam masala
1-2 bay leaves (tej patta)
1/2 teacup Coconut milk (she'd asked to use 1 teacup grated cococut, but I had coconut milk at home, so used it. You'll see why that was just as good)
Salt to taste
2 tablespoon Mustard oil (any cooking oil will do; but for authenticity, I'd say use mustard oil)
1 tea spoon desi ghee (clarified butter)

Method:

1. Boil the potatoes in pressure cooker (7 minutes or 3 whistles). Peel and cut them in big dice-like sizes.

Do the following while the potatoes are boiling:

2. Soak poshto for 15-20 mins then grind into a paste. If you have fresh grated coconut, add it while grinding.
3. Heat 2 tablespoons of mustard oil a pan, add fennel powder and bay leaves to it. Saute for a minute.
4. Add the posto paste, cummin, turmeric, chilli powder and salt. Fry. I also added coconut milk here since I hadn't used grated coconut whilst grinding.
5. Once the masala starts to separate from the oil add the potato chunks (assuming that potatoes are done and cut at this point) and mix well.
6. Add 1/2 cup water, cover and let it simmer for 2-3 mins.
7. Add the garam masala and ghee for flavour.

Its ready!

Serving suggestion: Serve with hot rotis or rice.

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Easy isn't it? Folks at home loved it, lemme know how it worked out for ya :)