Narkol Posto Rui (Rohu fish with coconut and poppyseeds)

Quick post with a quick recipe. I love coconut so as anything out of Posto/poppy seeds. I was never a kind of fish lover. But as you grow old your taste buds change too. Now I love eating fish more than any-other non veg items at the same time love trying different kind of fish recipes. This one I made in a hurry but it really came out well. Do try it and let me know how much you liked it.

Ingredients:

Rohu Fish blocks - 5pcs

Poppy Seed - 2 tblsn

Coconut (Scrapped/grated) - 1 cup

Potato - 1 small cut in cubes (optional)

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tspn

Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tspn + 1/4 tspn

Salt & Sugar as per taste

Green Chillies - 2- 3

Mustard oil - To fry the fish

Method:

1. Rub 1/2 tspn turmeric and salt to the fish blocks.

2.  Paste the poppy seed and coconut in a smooth paste. You can green chilli to the paste too to enhance the taste more.

3. Heat oil in a Kadai. Fry the fish till it turns light brown. 

4. After taking off all the fish from the kadai, make sure there is only 3/4 tbspn oil is remaining. If you have more in the Kadai then take out the excess oil. If adding potot then you can fry the potota with that excess oil.

5. Add mustard seed in the remaining oil. then the potatoes if adding. fry for a couple of minutes. Then add the poppyeed paste. Add the remianing 1/4 tspn turmeric powder. Stir well for a while (2-3 minutes). Add water (1 cup - See notes). Bring in to boil then add the fish. Add salt and sugar as per taste. Once the pototo is boiled, take it off the gas. Add green chilies and serve with hot rice.

Notes:

1. If you are not adding potato then add 1/2 cup or more water just for cooking the fish and the gravy consistency you want. 

2. You can add curry leaves and coriendar leaves too to enhance the taste more.

Celebrating Bengali New Year with Phulkopy Posto/ Cauliflower with Poppy Seeds

Bengali New year is heading and this time, I always feel nostalgic because I miss those wonderful days of my student life, my friends, and my teacher and above all my family. We cherish the different phases of our life. But I bet everyone will echo the same that the student life is the best time that everyone wants to get back it again and again. On this context, sharing few of my childhood memories which are engraved in my heart so deeply that every year on this very day I feel profoundly nostalgic and sad to get those days back.

I always felt exceedingly blessed when I thought that I had completed my education from Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan, a place founded by Rabindranath Tagore. The natural beauty of the place infuses its elegance through the mode of education. The freedom of creativity and ideas always evince through the various festivals celebrated on the auspicious occasions of special calendar events. During my school days, this Bengali New Year celebration used to start a week ahead. Those days are crystal clear to me. I can still visualise the little girl holding her mother’s or father’s hand heading towards the crafts shop to buy a bunch of white blank cards with full of excitement. The next few days passed within a fraction of moment with full concentration on filling the blank cards with all those imaginary creative mentation. In our school, the best part of Naba Barsho (New Year in Bengali) celebration is the exchange of these self-created cards. Each and every student used to create cards by his/her own hand and would gift it to his/her friends or would make friends by exchanging the cards. The new day becomes emblematic for inviting new friends, divulging one’s talent through the cards and a learning process of acculturation. Now coming at this age I realise the hidden truth of the festivity. But then that was only a satiated fun to amplify the friends’ group and also an exhibition of talents. Self-written short poems used to be scripted in the cards too.

Another fun of this day was to stand in a long queue in the scorching heat only to get a Kachori and two sweets. In our school premise, this snack used to be distributed to the students on this day. These most common bites used to become too tasty and sumptuous only on this very day. Now I am never going to get back those days, the tastes. Only what I have the fragrance of the sweet retention and an urge to make alive few of those memories through my daughter. My father has few of those New Year cards made by my sister and me in his collection. Sometimes I will surely share those with you all.

True Bong nature defines us as the epicureans who are head over heel in love with food. And when it comes to cleanliness Bengalis are very particular to keep their kitchen Clean to maintain the hygiene, not just looking clean and sparkling we make sure there is not a single cockroach in the kitchen. I grow up seeing my mother using Godrej LAL HIT. And I follow her steps too. It has become a ritual to use LAL HIT at least once a week to keep my Kitchen an anti-cockroach zone. Now LAL HIT even comes with deep reach nozzle, due to which I can easily spray it in places where cockroaches hide like a sink outlet, under the fridge, under the dustbin, under the cylinder etc. Say it Non Veg or Veg dishes, Bengalis will be always seen smacking there fingers and burping with utter satisfaction. I have shared most of the time Non- Veg delicacies. But this time I am going to share a Veg-Bengali Dish. Posto/ Poppyseed is one of the important ingredients and also very common in the daily meal mostly in the west Bengal cuisine. Last time I have shared Chhana Posto/Cottage Cheese with Poppy Seeds, where I got a raving feedback. Many tried it in the following days and my inbox got flooded with appreciations. I always feel like a blessed blogger when I get the feedback from my readers considering the true success of blogging. So now let us move to the recipe with out wasting much time:

Phulkopy Posto/ Cauliflower with Poppy Seeds

Ingredients:

Cauliflower: 1 medium size

Poppy Seed - 3 tbspn heaped

Mustard Seeds- 1/2 tspn

Ginger paste: 3/4 tspn

Tomato: 1 small (Optional- See Note)

Salt & Sugar : As per taste

Mustard Oil: 4 tbspn + 1 tbspn (If needed)

Raisins: Handful Soaked (Optional)

Ghee: Few drops.

Method:

1. Cut the cauliflower in to semi small florets. Clean nicely. 

2. Boil water desolving a tea spoon full salt. Pour the florets in to it and boil for 3-4mnts. Staring and reserve.

3. Soak the poppy seeds for 5-10mnts then make a smooth paste out of it.

4. Heat 4 tbspoon of  oil in a Kadai or a deep dense pan. Make sure that the oil is hot enough. Add the cauliflower in small batch and fry till they turn brown. Strain the excess oil and then reserve them on a kitchen towel/Tissue. Repeat the same with the remaining batches.

5. Check how much oil is remaining the pan/Kodai. If more oil needed then add. Temper the mustard seeds till those sputter then add the tomatoes (If adding) and the ginger paste. Saute nicely till oil starts to separate. Add the cauliflower florets and mix nicely. Add the poppy seed paste and 1/2 cup water. Cook till the Cauliflower is cooked and the the juice dried up. Add the raisins and few drops of ghee. Fold gently and then take it off the flame and serve with hot rice.

Note:

1. You can add potato along with the Cauliflower. If potato is added then fry how you have fried the Cauliflower.

2. Tomato I hardly use. So I felt it tasted better without the Tomatoes.

This recipe is off to the ongoing online event: Poila Baishakh with Veg-Bengali Dishes by Kolkata Food Bloggers:

(Disclaimer: This Post is in association with Godrej LAL HIT)

Rui Posto with Indrani Dhar (Kolkata Food Blogger)

We know each other I think from last 4 years. Through our blogs we became fellow bloggers and then fast friends. And after settling down to Kolkata and having her one of the most important and responsible members of Kolkata Food Bloggers, she has become an inseparable part of our life. Yes the star of this and our last week's ""Know your Kolkata Food Blogger Friend" event is, none other than the eminent and one of the popular bloggers of Indian, Indrani Dhar. A mom of three kids, leads a very busy life but how passionate she is towards cooking, her blog is the perfect example of it. Her blog, Recipe Junction is a treasure trove collection of almost all cuisines.  Her stay in various countries for last 14 years reflects the variety of dishes she cooks and shares through her blog. The best quality of her I,s one can trust on her blindly and she knows very well what a responsibility is called.  Kolkata Food Bloggers is so proud to have one such member in its group. And I feel so proud to be associated with her as a friend and fellow blogger. There is so many things to learn from her and she is always here for us whenever we need her. She always stands for justice and has the courage to raise fair voice whenever its needed. A true gem and simple person by heart, she is Indrani.

Today I have picked up one of the most favourite recipes of our house that my mom cooks. Rui Posto/ Rohu Fish with Poppy Seed (Click to see Indrani's recipe), I found it in Indrani's blog. She cooked it in a very different way and sounds very delicious. She has added onion and tomatos. But I preferred to cook it in more simple way how my mom cooks. I cooked Cauliflower Posto almost same way as Indrani cooked that will be posted in the blog very soon. Now let us have a look on my dish of Rui Posto/Rohu Fish with Poppy Seeds.

Ingredients:

Rui/Rohu Fish - 4 blocks

Poppy Seed - 1/2 cup

Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tspn

Mustard oil - To fry the fish + 1 tbspn + 1 tspn

Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tspn + 1/4 tspn

Salt to taste

Green Chilli - 2 - 3

Method:-

1.  Rub the fish with 1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder and salt.
2. Heat the Mustard Oil in Kodai/Pan. Be sure that the oil should reach a high temperature.  Add the fish slowly so that the oil should not sputter and burn your hand. Let the fish turn semi brown and then take our from the oil by letting go the excess oil. Reserve.
3. Paste the Poppy seeds in a smooth paste.
4. Heat 1tbspn oil in the Kadai. Add mustard seeds. Let them sputter. Add the poppy seed paste and 1/4 cup water, 1/4 tspn turmeric powder and keep on stirring. Add the remaining water and let it come to boil. Add the fish. Cook for a minute and then taste how much salt to add.
5. Cook for 3-4 mnts. Pls check how much gravy you want to keep. If more water needed then add. If you want a dry texture then cook until the gravy gets thicken.
6. Add green chilies and Ghee. Drizzle few drops of mustard oil (1 tspn) and serve with hot rice.

Note:

1. You can add Onion and Tomatoes also.

2. Many times we also use a bit mustard paste to enhance the taste.