Narkel Posto Potol (Parval in Poppy Seed and Coconut paste)

Potol posto, potol-dorma and potol-dalna are the three common dishes made out of potol in a Bong household. This post covers the first with a twist of coconut.

This dish gets its special aroma from the spices that are fried first and then ground.

Ingredients

• 15 parwal (Potol or Pointed gourd)
• 1/2 tsp. methi seeds ( Fenugreek )
• 1/2 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1 tsp. mouri (fennel seeds)
• 3 cloves
• 2 cardamoms 
• 1 red dry red chili
• 1/2” ginger chopped
• 1/2 cup fresh or frozen grated coconut
• 2 tbsp. poppy seed
• 1 tsp. Kashmiri chili powder
• 1 tsp. turmeric powder
• 2-3 green chilies
• 1 tsp. sugar
• Salt to taste
• Mustard oil

Procedure

Heat 1 tsp. oil in a pan and roast methi, cumin, fennel, cloves, cardamoms, red chili along with chopped ginger, grated coconut and poppy seeds. Fry all these ingredients on low heat till you find a sweet aroma. Cool and transfer the content in a blender. Dry grind this mixture and then add water to make a fine paste out of it.

Wash potol and scrape their skin, don’t peel it. Lengthwise cut them into halves and smear them with a pinch of turmeric and salt.

Heat oil in a pan and fry potol on medium heat till they turn yellow. Remove and keep aside.

If there is any oil left use that or else add some more oil. Temper the oil with green chilies and add coconut poppy seed masala paste to it.

Sprinkle turmeric and Kashmiri chili powder and fry the masala on low heat till oil oozes out from the sides.

Now add fried potol and seasonings. Mix well with masala so that each of them are nicely coated. Add half a cup of water. Cover and cook till potol is done. This is a dry dish so boil off any excess moisture left at the end of the cooking.

Serve with hot plain rice.