Aloo Sarson-Posta(Potato mustard&poppyseed curry)

It had been nearly more than six months since i had tasted poppy seeds. It was only in this Christmas time that i could get some of it at cheaper price at an Indian store in Brussels. So i grabbed a few packets just to make my traditional Aloo posta . The best thing about this dish is that you do not need many ingredients and its just too quick and fast in preparation. However i customized this dish by adding some mustard to it as i love the taste of mustard too. Some like it with purely poppy seed paste while others just like me incorporate almond and cashew nuts too.

This recipe serves four
Preparation & Cooking time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:

• Potatoes - 4 Large sized, sliced into 1/2 inches
• Onion -1 medium size ,sliced thinly
• Chilly- 1 chopped
• (optional)Paanch Foren(mixture of Fenugreek seed, cumin seed, mustard seed,fennel seed ,kalongi seeds ) 1 tsp each, mix them well and keep it in a closed container for future use.
• Turmeric powder- 1 tsp
• Pepper powder- 1 tsp
• Salt as per taste
• oil for cooking
• Paste- (Add 1 tbsp poppy seeds+1 tbsp crushed almonds + 3/4tbsp mustard+ green chilly 1 in a grinder jar. Add little water and then grind to make a consistent paste)
• water for cooking

Preparation:

• Heat oil in a kadai or pan
• Add 1 tsp of Paanch foren, allow it to crackle
• Now add green chillies and sliced onion, fry until onion turns tender
• Add the sliced potatoes
• Add salt ,stir and cover, wait until potatoes are half cooked
• Now add turmeric powder and pepper powder
• cook until turmeric gets fried.
• At this point add the paste, Add water to adjust the consistency of the gravy and then stir.
• Simmer in low heat for 5 mins.
• Turn off the heat once you see gravy of desired consistency .

The Aloo sarson-posta is now ready to be served. Serve it hot with hot rice or chapati.

Enjoy and Happy Cooking :-)

By: Sushmita Pandit

Prawn curry

In my last post i told you about how to prepare prawn chilly, in this post we will see how to prepare Indian prawn curry. This is a spicy curry yet not hot. This can be well served along with rice, nan or chapati or any other flat bread.

This recipe was given to me by my landlord where i used to stay during my school days. At one point of time our mess was close and i had still some days left to go home, thats wen she prepared this and also shared its secret recipe , i absolutely love this prawn curry,  Here is its RECPIE:
This will serve Three
Cooking time - 30 mins

Ingredients:

• Prawn - 250Grams(washed, deveined and dried)
• Boiled Potato-5(cut into cubes) (optional)
• Lemon juice - 1 TBSP
• Onion- 1 large chopped
• Spice mix(Turmeric- 1 Tsp, pepper powder- 1 Tsp, cumin powder-1/2 Tbsp, Coriander Powder- 1 Tbsp)
• Green chilli- 2
• Ginger garlic paste- 1/2 Tbsp
•  Salt as per taste
• Oil for cooking
• Tomato puree - 1 medium sized tomato
• Garam masala(cloves, cinnamon, cardamom )
• Coriander leaves for garnishing

Method:

• Heat oil in a pan.
• Add all the garam masala.
• Add chillies and onions.
• saute onion until golden brown.
• Add ginger garlic paste and fry for 2 minutes.
• Prepare a paste with tomato puree+ spice mix+ Salt.
• Add this paste and fry until oil gets separated from the fried masala.
• Add the boiled potatoes.
• Add the prawns .
• Add lemon juice. Mix well.
• And then add 1/2 cup of water. Adjust the amount of water as per the consistency of the gravy
• Cover the pan and let the dish simmer for 5 minutes at low heat.
• Turn off the heat and sprinkle coriander leaves all over.

Serve hot with rice or chapati.... enjoy!!!!

Happy cooking :-)
For the chapati: http://wahsushkitchen.blogspot.de/2013/01/chapati.html
By: Sushmita Pandit