Patay mora chingri posto

I worry a lot about global concerns over Afghanistan’s opium fields. I am not greatly bothered about the international drug trafficking route — after all, what will our thriller writers do if the drug lords cease to exist? The end of the Cold War has done enough harm as it is to pulp fiction. My worry is a culinary one. Those swaying poppy fields, as far as I am concerned, mean one thing: posto.

For those who came in late, posto is poppy seed — a great food item that a large section of Bengalis just can’t do without. The Bengalis and other easterners, notably the Oriyas, eat it as a dish in itself — but elsewhere in the country, it is often used for flavouring and texture, and to thicken a gravy. You take the seeds and grind them and then cook the paste with anything from potatoes and gourds to prawns and meat. You also roast the seeds and use them to coat cutlets or chops.

In the north, poppy or khus khus seeds are used to cook the safed korma and in thandais — which are nutty milky beverages just right for northern summers. The Punjabis have an interesting dish of quail korma cooked with posto. And in Andhra Pradesh, the aloo korma needs its share of poppy seeds.

But for the easterner, the khus khus is a veritable part of its cuisine. And that is possibly why The Peerless Inn organised a posto festival recently. I talked to the hotel’s executive chef, Rupam Banik, who gave me several recipes for special posto dishes.

He has, for instance, a very interesting recipe for steamed prawns. For Patay mora chingri posto, you need a banana leaf, 30gm posto, 10gm mustard paste, ½tsp turmeric powder, ½tsp onion seeds, 30gm mxustard oil, 1tsp green chilli paste, 1tbs curds, six medium-sized prawns and salt to taste.

Posto kaju mangsho

Posto sandesh

Now mix the posto, mustard paste, turmeric powder, onion seeds, mustard oil, green chilli paste, curds and salt — and make a smooth paste. Marinate the prawns in this for an hour. Cut the banana leaf into two. Now place three prawns in each leaf and fold the sides. Steam each parcel for 10 minutes.

Chef Banik — who had earlier worked with the Radisson White Sands resort in Goa and at the Goldfinch Boutique hotel in Bangalore — says that instead of a banana leaf, you can use a red pumpkin leaf for the wrapping. And that, of course, will be even better — for you can eat the soft and steamed pumpkin leaf along with the posto-prawn.

Posto goes wonderfully well with vegetables. I love the aloo posto — which is khus khus cooked with small potato cubes. We once had a cook who used to prepare this as a dry dish — with more potatoes than khus khus, and I could never have enough of it.

Elsewhere I have seen the same dish cooked with a lot more posto than potatoes, and the end result is a moistened mix of posto and aloo. In the north, okra is sometimes cooked with posto. And a gravy of paneer is thickened with poppy seeds.

Posto is a great ingredient for fish, lamb and chicken as well. Chef Banik’s recipe of posto kaju mangsho — lamb with khus khus and cashewnuts — requires 200gm of mutton (preferably parts of the shoulder), 25gm of posto, 15gm cashewnuts, 100gm onion paste, 50gm of ginger- garlic paste, 3gm green chilli paste, salt, 50gm refined oil, two whole cardamoms, 1 small cinnamon stick, 3 bay leaves, 4 cloves, a pinch of turmeric powder, 1tsp ghee, a pinch of sugar, some garam masala and beaten curds.

Chef Rupam Banik has used posto to whip up a variety of dishes

Now heat a pan and add the oil, cardamoms, cinnamon, bay leaves and cloves to it. Add the onion and the sugar and stir till golden in colour. Then add the ginger and garlic paste and stir. Add the mutton and fry well. When it is almost done, put the posto and the cashewnut paste. Add the green chilli paste, salt and turmeric powder and cook till it is done. Now add beaten curds to the mutton and top with the ghee.

To cook fish with posto, heat oil and fry red chillies, curry leaves, and a paste of coriander seeds, cumin seeds, red chillies and poppy seeds. Add water and boil. Add sugar and salt, pomfret cut into slices and let it simmer for 10 minutes. Now top with mustard oil and slit green chillies.

The seeds work very well with desserts, too. Chef Banik makes a posto sandesh, with chhaana or cottage cheese, posto and sugar. Roast the posto and keep a part of it aside. Make a paste out of the remaining posto. Now cook the chhaana with the posto paste and sugar (for 200gm of cheese, use 60gm of sugar). Make small balls out of the mix and coat with roasted posto.

I can detect a bit of music in Chef Banik’s recipe — and that may well be because he likes to play the guitar. Poppy seeds, in fact, many believe lead to a happy and soporific feeling, especially if you’ve eaten it for lunch on a hot Sunday, and with mounds of rice. I think the guitar strumming — softly playing in the background — will add to a pleasant afternoon siesta.

Posto pea balls

Ingredients (for four)

• 100gm green pea paste • 50gm posto paste • 2gm green chilli paste • A pinch of turmeric powder • Salt, to taste • 25gm maida

Method

Blanche the green peas in salted water and then make a smooth paste. Wash the posto well and grind to a smooth paste. Mix the green pea and posto pastes, green chilli paste, turmeric powder, salt and maida and make a tight mixture. Make small balls of about 15gm each. Flatten each ball into small patties (like tikkis). Grill on a hot plate till golden in colour. Serve with kasundi.