I am Bengali, so when I had to give a party on my husband's birthday, a unanimous demand was that i ...
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I am Bengali, so when I had to give a party on my husband's birthday, a unanimous demand was that i prepare Bengali food...............
So this made me to think a bit, for I know to cook lot of Bengali dishes, but it should match the taste of cosmopolitan crowd that had to be feeded in the party.
ALOO POSTO..............is the name that came instantly to my mind. Aloo is a universal vegetable...........and if you add posto , that is nothing else but poppy seeds or khuskhus as you call in other parts of world, makes the dish crisp. So what you have is a crispier version of aloo............Believe me this recipe Aloo Posto was such a huge hit that it made me sit back and think for a while that this is the easiest of all the Bengali recipes I have come across in my 28 years of life.and it has become the symbol of Bengali cuisine. So the logic is that simple dishes are good...........you need not go for very difficult and exotic preparation...............it's just the way that you cook. infact once you cook Aloo Posto for yourself you will also agree with me that next to fish, in vegetarian food Aloo Posto should be made the representative of Bengali cuisine.
RECIPE
STEP 1 - take aloo, wash, peel and cut into small cubes
STEP 2 - take a kadhai, add oil (Bengali's prefer mustard oil, sarso ka tel). basically mustard oil enhances the crispiness of the recipe. To make it authentic recipe, one got to add Panch Poohron...........basically it is five ingredients in small quantities, kala jeera, sounf, meethi,mustard seed, dhaniya seeds. These days it is easily available prepared in markets. but if you do not want to trouble yourself..............just add a lilttle of any of the ingredients available............will make not much of a difference. Okay enough of Gyan on Panch Poorhon...................Next when it crackles add aloo and salt. let it cook
STEP 3 - this is the important one. take around 3-4 table spoon of posto...........if you have taken 4-5 aloo ( it's a rough estimate). now wash posto properly because it usually has fine dust. grind it into a smooth paste............if you want the recipe to be a lilttle chatpatta then add a few green or red chillies or both while grinding.
STEP 4 - Once aloo in kadhai is 3/4th cooked..............add posto paste and now got to do a little "mehnat". take a flat spatuala and keep frying it. for posto has the tendency to stick and it becomes red faster. So on a medium flame.........just keep moving it in between. Once the colour begins to change, keep adding little oil in between ....................in no time you will see a beautiful colour and u can make out that it is turning crispy.................this is the time, switch off the flame and serve aloo posto garnishing with a slit green chilly.
We bengalis prefer aloo posto with dal and chawal(rice) or puri. Simple khaoo aur mast jiyoo. I am sure children will love it..................
Let me know if you also like it............just fry it with lot of love!!!!
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Hi Gitz18,
Very nice recipe and all time favourite of Bengalis. We too love posto so much in our home that I keep experimenting various posto recipes. Have you tried Chicken Posto? Incase you want to try this, I posted the recipe in my blog in http://www.new2cook.com/posto-chicken-bengali-posto-recipe
Keep sharing and lets share the great tastes of Bengal
- Hobby Cook
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Thanks for the correction radhuni................Welcome to my blog.........Keep coming
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Hi Gitz 18,
Alu Posto is one of the Best Bengali Recipe, and getting popular day by day with other states. I think it would be fine if you use only Kalo Jeera and not Panch Foron.
Please note Panch Foron should be of five Herbs : KALO JEERA, METHI,MOURI,RAI AND RADHUNI and not dhania.
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Thanks Mrs Muffet.........very true, aloo posto is a cosmopolitan dish, I am yet to hear of anyone who didn't like it
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Hi Gitz18,
I love alu-posto too....am sure every one is going to love it. I have let people ( from different countries and continents) have a taste of it , while we were in Africa.....it became a super hit !
Great sharing a great recipe from the kitchen of Bengal..
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