Potol Posto -Pointed Gourd -Parwal Cooked with Poppy Seed Paste
Sunday lunch special is not a thing of my house. We always had special food- there was always something new on the menu. We always had elaborated meals. Even now, when we are all away from home, my mother would cook a five-course meal. It always starts with a leafy vegetable and finishes with dal (yes we eat dal at last not at the beginning of a meal). In between there will be a mix vegetable or a vegetable cooked with fish or fish head, sometime some vegetable bhorta ( mash), fish jhol ( gravy), chicken ( idea is to cook for my brother who does not eat fish but of course she cannot just cook for him. So we all eat it) and then the dal to finish. This is like a regular menu for us. Moreover, my mother can never cook same thing within two weeks time. Therefore, there is always a different fish dish and chicken dish on the table. For many household in Bengal, my husband’s for example, Sunday is associated with eating ‘mutton jhol’ (goat meat gravy) and other special dishes. But not in my house. Despite of being very busy, both my parents took interest in food- they would cook ‘special food’ every night and store them as well for later use. Mutton was never something we eat very often due to health reason.
Now of course things are different. I make mutton occasionally when R wants to eat and when I am inviting A and D who love mutton. In addition, I try to cook for 3 to 4 days lunches at one go on Sunday afternoon so that both of us can take food to office. Dinner is mostly cooked fresh as we have salads or soups. Today is Sunday and I am cooking in bulk- to eat today and in the hope that some will last for another 3 to 4 days office lunch (which never really happens).
Today I cooked Potol Posto (Pointed Gourd/Parwal Cooked with Poppy Seed Paste), Shorshe Ilish (Hilsa cooked with mustard paste in Bengali style), capsicum, motorshuti, sweet corn diye paneer ( Paneer cooked with capsicum, peas and sweet corn), Mutton Jhol (goat meat gravy), tomato Chutney (Bengali Tomato Chutney) and musuri r dal ( Red lentil cooked in Bengali style) . I am giving the recipes one by one in separate posts starting with Potol Posto.
For Shorshe Ilish (Hilsa cooked with mustard paste in Bengali style), Click here
For Mutton Jhol (goat meat gravy) click here
For Tomato Chutney (Bengali Tomato Chutney) click here
Potol Posto Ingredients:
10- Potol (pointed gourd), de skinned and cut lengthwise in four sections or maybe two
½- teaspoon of Nigella seed/kalo jeera
1-small onion cut into thin and fine slices
1 -teaspoon Turmeric powder
3-small green chili, cut lengthwise
5-tablespoon poppy seed/Posto
2-tablepoon oil (vegetable or mustard)
Salt to taste
Method:
1. Heat oil in a pan
2. Marinate the Potol with turmeric and salt and fry them. Keep them aside
3. Make a paste of the Posto and 1 green chili using blender or shil nora
4. Heat more oil in the pan
5. Add kalo jeera and let it fry for a while
6. Add the cut onions and fry them until soft
7. Add the Potol and salt. Fry for 5 mins
8. Add the Posto paste and add green chili
9. Cook until Posto is cooked and water have dried down
10. Serve with hot white/boiled rice
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Nice recipe.. I get to know some unique recipes from ur blog.. love it
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Thanks so much Tinki.. i means a lot to me… i see you have a blog.. lets follow each other.. what say.. and keep encourgaing me with your wonderful words… see you around more often