Paneer Posto (Indian cottage cheese in poppy seed paste)

This week, I thought of sharing something simple that can be prepared quickly. On top of that, I was not in a mood to deal with onions or garlic or even ginger. This lead me to prepare something with poppy seed paste or what is popularly known as posto in Bengali. Originally, I got this recipe from my very good friend and my idol in cooking, Boishali, one of the best cooks I have ever known. I do not know whether over the years I have lost any step of the recipe, but I have tried my best to do justice to it.

Ingredients:

• Paneer (Indian cottage cheese)- ½ lb
• Posto (Poppy Seeds)- 4 tbsp
• Green Chillies- 3-4 small

• Bell Pepper- ½ red, ½ green, de-seeded and cut into medium cubes (The adjacent picture shows an example.)
• Yogurt- 4 tbsp.
• Panchforon (blend of 5 seeds, called panchpuran in Indian stores) – 1 tsp
• Oil
• Ghee – ½ tsp
• Salt to taste
• Sugar- 1 ½ tsp

Method

• Cut the paneer block into small bite size pieces and keep aside.
• Soak the posto (poppy seeds) in hot water for 2 hrs in advance.
• Grind the soaked poppy seeds and green chillies to a paste.
• Heat oil in a vessel.
• Add the panchforon and wait till it splutters.
• Add the bell peppers and stir fry briefly.
• Add the posto paste and fry for about 2 minutes.
• Add the yogurt, salt and sugar. Stir till the water evaporates. The gravy now will be semi-dry.
• Now add the paneer pieces and mix well
• Turn off the heat and add in the ghee.
• Serve with hot rice like Basmati.

Notes:

• Panchforon is a mix of kalo-jeera/kalaunji (Onion seeds), methi (fenugreek seeds), yellow mustard seeds, jeera (cumin seeds) and mauri/sauf (fennel seeds).
• Posto or poppy seeds might be a litte scary for non-indians but this is an all-time favourite among all Bengalis. No, it is not addicting except that the flavor is just very unique and tasty.

Fish Fry (Indian-Bengali style)

When I started this blog a couple of weeks back, I had received a request for this recipe. That was really helpful since it drove me to standardize my measurements. “Fish fry” in Kolkata, India is a typical appetizer item for most weddings and other such occasions. Although globalization has infused some western culture into the common man’s food-habit, fish-fry still seems to hold its position as one of the favorite dishes among the Bengalis from Kolkata.

Ingredients:


• Fish fillet- ¾ lb (approx.) of Tilapia/Catfish
• Onion- ½ of a medium
• Garlic- 2-3 cloves
• Ginger Paste- 1tsp
• Green Chillies (Thai or Indian )- 4-5 small
• Bread Crumbs- as needed
• Eggs- 5 large
• Cilantro - 1 bunch
• Lemon Juice- ½ cup
• Salt to taste
• Ajwain (Carom seed) powder – ½ tsp
• Amchur (Dried Mango) Powder- 1tsp

Method:

• Make a fine paste of onion, garlic, ginger, green chillies and cilantro. Keep aside

• Take the fish fillet and cut them thinner by running the knife (preferably the deboning knife) horizontally. You can accomplish this by holding down the thickest part of the fillet and gently running the knife through. You will get 2 thin layers approximately.
• Now cut each of the thin layers into 2”x 3” rectangles. You may not get perfect rectangles due to the original shape of the fillet, but this is to give you an approximate idea of the size.
• Mix the lemon juice, ajwain powder and salt into the cilantro mixture and marinade the fish pieces in them for about 1 ½ hours.
• Whisk the eggs along with some salt and keep aside.
• Divide the bread crumbs into two areas and keep them separately. Now it is time to prepare the cutlets.
• Step 1- Dip the marinated fillet into the 1st bread crumb plate and just pat the fillet with the crumbs to lock in the flavor of the marinade.

• Step 2- Dip the above fillet into the egg wash.
• Step 3- Roll the above fillet into the 2nd bread crumb plate and make sure that the fillet is fully coated with it. Try to make the shape as rectangular as possible.
• Repeat the 3 steps mentioned above for all the pieces.
• Heat oil in a frying pan and fry the breaded fish fillets.
• Serve them hot with tomato ketchup, hot sauce of any kind or ideally with kasundi (a typical Bengali condiment which you could find only in Bangladeshi stores in US). Additionally, one can also have a side of julienned cucumber and onions.

• This is an excellent starter and also a great accompaniment for tea.

Notes:

• Kasundi is what one can describe as a pickled mustard paste. Widely available in local food market in Kolkata, India
• The accompanying salad could be made of julienned onions, cucumber and beetroot all mixed in a dressing of lemon juice, kasundi and salt. In that case you might choose not to serve the kasundi separately.
• You can prepare these fillets ahead of time if you are preparing for a party and just fry them when guests start arriving.
• Ajwain or carom seeds are excellent for digestion and hence it is ideally used for appetizers traditionally.

Kadai Gosht

Mutton off the wok!!!...
For a while, I have been thinking of doing something with mutton that I had never done before. Though a few ideas were floating in my mind, nothing solidified until a few days back.

I still remember, back in India, there was a little fast-food joint near our house. They used to sell a mutton-roll which was absolutely beyond this world:). The tender yet crispy meat wrapped in soft bread, the sauce, the crunchy onions – all of these together used to create such an effect on the cerebrum that taste used to be the only sense left in the body. This “zzzing…” was not an effect of just chilli peppers, instead it was the effect of some unknown combination of spices. The last bite always used to be filled with the sadness of the end of this heavenly journey. In an attempt to reproduce that “zzzing…”, I have combined certain spices, the result of which is what I have to share with you today. It is what I call “Kadai Gosht “, that is, boneless goat meat cooked with bell peppers and onions with a combination of various spices. As the name suggests, this would be cooked in a kadai or wok with very little or no water. As mentioned, this would be a drier dish where the predominant gravy-maker would be oil and spices.

Kadai Gosht/Mutton (Goat meat with bell peppers in a dry and spicy gravy)

Ingredients
• Boneless goat meat (mutton) – 1 ½ lb
• Onions- 1 ¼ cup Julienned
• Bell-peppers - green, yellow & red (2:1:1); 2 cups julienned
• Garlic- 2-3 cloves finely chopped
• Garlic paste - 1 tsp
• Ginger - ½ ” piece, finely chopped
• Shajeera (popularly known as kala jeera in the Indian stores) - ½ tsp
• Cumin powder - ½ tsp
• Coriander seeds - ½ tsp dry roasted and pounded coarsely
• Kasoori Methi – 1 tbsp (one could get this in Indian stores-it looks like dried leaves, green in color)
• Mace powder - ¼ tsp
• Cardamom seeds (ground) – ¼ tsp
• Cloves (ground) - ¼ tsp
• Red chilli powder – ½ tsp
• Red chilli flakes – ½ tsp
• Black pepper (ground) - ½ tsp
• Tomato paste - 1 tbsp
• Yogurt – ½ cup
• Turmeric – ¼ tsp
• Garam Masala - 1 pinch
• Salt to taste
• Ghee (clarified butter) - 1 tsp
• Coriander leaves – ½ cup finely chopped

Method:

• Marinade the boneless pieces in a mixture of yogurt and garlic paste. Keep aside for 2 hrs.
• Heat oil in a pressure cooker and fry the marinated meat.
• Once it gets charred a little here and there, add a little salt (about ½ tsp) and enough water to cover the meat and cook through.
• Heat oil in a pan or wok. Add the shajeera in it.
• When the shajeera starts to splutter, add the onions to it and fry for 1 min.
• Add the chopped garlic followed by chopped ginger.
• Let them fry along with the onions. Make sure that the garlic does not get burnt.
• Add the tomato paste and cook till it disintegrates.
• Add in the turmeric, red chilli powder, red chilli flakes, salt and sauté briefly
• Add in the meat pieces and stir fry till they are evenly coated with the spices (about 2 min).
• Now, add the cumin powder, coriander seeds, cardamom powder, cloves powder and mace powder and mix.

• Add the bell peppers to the above mixture and fry until the point where the bell peppers are cooked but have not lost the crunch. It could take about 5 minutes.
• Now add the kasoori methi, garam masala and give it a quick stir.
• Turn off the heat and add the ghee and the coriander leaves.
• Now take it off the wok and serve with white rice or chappati or paratha or even Naan.

Notes:

1. I had used goat meat from Costco which was easy to de-bone. You may use any other variety. Also, I have heard many complaints regarding the Costco meat being too tough. Fortunately, I never had that problem yet. I guess I was just lucky. The pieces could be cut into ½” cubes. You may also use any other red meat for this dish.
2. I have mentioned about pressure cooking the meat. You may cook it by any other means. Also, in the beginning, a lot of water would surface up in the pressure cooker. Let it evaporate to enable the charring procedure of the meat.
3. Chappati, paratha and Naan are all Indian style breads. This could be served with any other bread as well.
4. Garam Masala is a combination of Cinnamon, Cardamom and Cloves. You may get this powder very commonly in Indian stores.