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.