Dim Posto (Egg in Poppy Seed Paste)

Dim posto is an uncommon bong dish. It’s pretty dry and makes a great lunch with hot steaming rice. I made this with a little twist and added sesame seeds. This is is optional and you can skip and only use poppy seeds.

Ingredients

• 4 hard boiled eggs shelled
• 1 red onion thinly sliced
• 5-6 green chilies slit lengthwise
• 1 tsp. turmeric powder
• 4 tbsp. posto (poppy seed)
• 2 tbsp. til (Sesame seed)
• Salt to taste
• Mustard oil

Procedure

First dry grind poppy seed and sesame seed in a grinder and make a coarse powder of it. Now make a paste of them with a green chili by adding some water.

Smear the boiled eggs with turmeric powder and salt.

Heat 4 tbsp. mustard oil in a pan and fry the eggs on medium heat till they turn golden yellow. Remove the eggs and keep aside.

Add onion slices and green chilies to the same oil and fry them on medium heat for a minute or two. The onions should retain their crunchiness so don’t over cook them.

Now add the poppy seed and sesame seed paste to it. Add boiled eggs and keep sautéing everything till oil gets separated. Add the seasoning and mix once more.

Drizzle one spoon raw mustard oil to get an extra zing. Serve with plain hot rice.

Daab Chingri

I was super busy due to moving home and it’s aftermath. In the mean time couple of our main festivals went by. Even though I was not able to blog I did manage to make something special. I captured the photos and jotted the recipe down and hopefully now that things are settling down, I will find more time to blog about them.

Daab chingri or green-coconut shrimp needs the coconut to be cut and stuffed. I was struggling hard to open the coconut when my husband jumped in for my aid. He got his drill out and actually dilled holes to finally tame the coconut. It was worth the effort!!

Ingredients

• 1 young green coconut (In absence of whole coconut you can use young coconut flesh available in the frozen section of Asian store)
• 15 medium sized prawns deveined
• 1 tbsp. black and yellow mustard seeds
• 2 green chilies
• 1 tsp. kalojeera (Kalonji)
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• 1 tsp. turmeric powder
• Salt to taste
• 2-3 tbsp.mustard oil

Procedure

Make a 2 inch by 2 inch square cut on top of the young coconut. Pour the water in a glass and reserve it for later use. Insert a spoon and scrape off the coconut flesh. Take out the coconut flesh and make a smooth paste of it using the coconut’s water.

If you are using packaged coconut flesh, make a paste of it with little water.

Make another smooth paste of mustard seeds and green chilies.

Heat oil in a pan and temper it with a spoon of kalonji seeds. Add chopped onion and garlic. Fry them on low heat till they turn soft. Be careful not to burn the garlic.

Take clean prawns in a mixing bowl and one by one add turmeric powder, salt, mustard paste and coconut paste to it. At last pour the fried onion and garlic along with its oil. Mix well with a spoon. If required add few spoons of coconut water to it.

Cooking Process 1:

Cut the bottom end of the coconut flat so that it can stand up right.

Stuff the prawn mixture inside the coconut shell and seal the open end. I used folded banana leaves as a sealer, you can use flour dough to seal it. Pre heat oven at 400F and cook it for half an hour inside the oven.

Cooking Process 2:

Transfer the prawn mixture in a steel lunch box. Place the lunch box inside a pressure cooker. Pour 2-3 cups of water in the cooker so that the water level is halfway of the lunch box. Careful not to submerge the lunch box under water.

Close the pressure cooker lid and cook till 2 whistles come. Let the vapour release on its own before you open the lid.

Best enjoyed with plain rice…

Carrot Sondesh

Finally I am back after the longest break since I started this blog. We moved to a different house and to another city (in the same area though). The good news is that I have a bigger kitchen and more room to take better photographs. So hopefully I will makeup for the lost time.

Let me re-start blogging for something sweet to mark the occasion.

Ingredients

• 5-6 large carrots grated
• 1 cup freshly made chena (Cottage Cheese)
• 1 cup grated khoya (dried whole milk)
• 1/2 cup cashew powder
• 2 black cardamom crushed into powder
• 1 tsp. saffron soaked in warm milk
• 3/4 cup sugar (adjust according to your taste)
• 2tbsp. ghee (clarified Butter)
• Few chopped almonds,pistachio, saffron and silver leaves for garnishing

Procedure

Heat ghee in a nonstick pan till it melts. Add grated carrot and a spoon of sugar. Sauté on low heat for about five minutes. Turn off the heat and let it cool.

In a mixer grinder take carrot along with chena and khoya and make paste of them.

Transfer the content of the mixer into a non stick pan. Add cashew powder and sugar to it. Sauté on low heat till the mixture comes together and starts leaving the sides of the pan. Sprinkle black cardamom powder and saffron infused milk to it. Turn off the heat and immediately transfer it in a flat plate or tray.

Flatten the mixture with a knife and let it cool down completely. Carefully place the silver leaf on top and garnish it with slices of almond and pistachio. Sprinkle few dry saffron strands and cut them into your favorite shape.

You can store this sweet upto couple of days in the refrigerator.