Chhana Posto (Cottage Cheese with Poppy Seeds)

If many famous Bengali dishes evolved around of the influences of various foreign cuisines that came and established for a while to invade India, at the same time the essence of true Bengali cuisine has not been lost in any circumstances. Till date the normal Bengali Kitchen flavours up with traditional cooking - the recipes descend from the Great Great Grandmothers to us. If the Bengali are famously identified as fish lovers, Bengali cuisine has an ample collection of vegetarian dishes too which specifically comprehend by the taste which are very simple and cooked with fewer ingredients/spices. Call it the PanNch Mishali or Shukto, or the Posto dishes, they are unique in taste and absolutely have the subtle sense of Classiness. Posto/ Poppy Seed is widely used in the western part of Bengal which one is now known as West Bengal. I would not go after the controversies of the cuisine styles of Ghoti (Bengalis of the West part) and the Bangals (Bengalis of the Eastern Part), but there are something very specifically divided these two parts and that also significantly can be seen through the cooking style. Today the dish I am sharing is a part of the Ghoti Cuisine. My In-Laws, though they have descended from East Bengal, but the cuisine style of my MIL is very much influenced by the West Bengal cuisine style. On the other hand I was grown up with the introduction of mostly the East Bengal style cooking. So after getting married I was introduced to this regional cooking of the west Bengal Kitchen. I learned this dish Chhana Posto (Cottage Cheese with Poppy Seeds) from my MIL and here I am sharing it. Very easy to cook and needs very fewer ingredients. Very healthy and  too tasty. So let’s move to recipe:

Ingredients:

Chhana/ Cottage Cheese: Out of 1/2 liter milk (I used lemon juice 3/4 of one lemon. Let the milk boil. Simmer the flame and add the juice. Let the milk curdle. Take it off the flame and strain the whey out of the Chhana/ Cottage Cheese )

Poppy seeds: 3 tspn

Onion: 1 small

Tomato: 1 small

Salt & Sugar as per taste

Oil- 1 tbsp

Ghee - a pinch

Method:

1. Thinly Slice the onion. Chop the Tomato. Paste the Poppy Seed.

2. Take a Kadai/Pan. Heat oil. Saute the onion till it turns brown. Add the tomato. Saute till it blends nicely with the onion. 

3. Add the Chhana/ Cottage Cheese, the Poppy Seed paste and the Salt & Sugar. Fry nicely till it gets absolutely dry and you can inhale a nice cooked aroma from it. Add a pinch of Ghee and serve hot with rice.

This recipe goes to the ongoing event Comfort Food of KFB conducted by Sayantani who blogs from A Homemaker's Diary: