Masur Dal and Alu Posto: A whole lunch

Posto or poppy seeds is always a delicacy in all Bengali household. It is extensively used as a spice in various dishes, be that in potato or chicken curry.It is said that poppy makes you feel cool, I am not sure of this saying though. I mom believes in it and so come summer there has to be some kind of a curry consisting of poppy seeds. The range varies from simple poppy seed paste sauted to poppy seed grind with cashew to make chicken curry.

As with poppy seeds, masur dal also takes up a very important place in Bengali kitchens. whenever I taste masur dal, I go down memory lane. every day when I came back from school for lunch, mom always prepared masur dal, my all time favorite among all lentils.  Even till now, when I go home in my vacations mom always cook masur dal for me.

All this I was telling because I had the best combination of veggie delight last night. It was steamed rice with masur dal and alu posto. If you are a Bengali or if you are not, then ask any Bengali , you’ll come to know that anyone would kill for this platter.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

For Alu Posto:-

Potato (Alu): 3 large size

Nigella seeds (Kalonji): 1 teaspoon

Poppy seeds (Posto): 2 tablespoons

Green Chili (Kacha Lanka): 2

Mustard oil (Sarser tel): 1 teaspoon

For Masur dal:-

Masur dal: 50 gms

Onions (Peyaj): 2 small sizes

Green chili (Kacha lanka): 2

Mustard oil (Sarser tel): 1 teaspoon

Cilantro leaves (Dhaniya pata): 2 tablespoon of chopped leaves (optional)

Preparation:

Alu Posto:-

• Grind the poppy seeds and green chili in a grinder to make a paste
• Cut the potatoes into small one inch squares
• Heat oil in a wok, and throw in the nigella seeds as the oil gets heated.
• Immediately add the potatoes and toss for a while so that the oil gets mixed with the potatoes.
• Now add turmeric and salt along with a cup of water and let the potatoes get half cooked.
• Put in the poppy seed paste and stir so that the paste gets mixed with the half cooked potatoes. You can add more water if the curry gets dried up.
• Cook till the potatoes get cooked properly and the water disappears.

Here is a slide show to show the stages of the cooking:

[slideshow id=2882303761533642016&w=426&h=320]

Masur Dal:-

• Thoroughly wash the dal and put in a deep pan with salt and water so that the dal remain almost 3 inches under water. Let it boil till the water and dal becomes inseparable.
• In a separate heat the oil and throw in the onions and green chili. Saute till the onions turn golden brown
• Add the sauted onions to the boiled dal along with the turmeric powder and cook for two to three minutes more.
• Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

Masur dal and poppy-potato curry tastes best with steamed rice, but you can also try it with chapatis and rotis. The curry also looks good without turmeric, so you can try out that too. About masur dal, it depends what concentration you want for it, depending on that you can keep the water or make it dry.

Sending this to Challenge Event hosted by Veda of Iyengar’s kitchen

Check for more updates here on this blog, till then Happy Cooking and Happy Eating