Muri Ghanto/ Fish Head Dish/Machli ke sar ki sabji
Food Fiesta at Lucknow part 2
On 15th August ( happy independence day again ….) we reached a drenched and rain pelted Lucknow at 1:30 in the noon.
Moms food beckoned and we sat down to a great lunch of rice, arhar dal, shukto ( yes the self same …but with karela), moong dal and chana sprouts salad, Muri Ghanto and Rui Macher Tel Shorshe.
I had a great time having loads of food with dollops of pickle and Mangoes to polish off the meal. Cant say the same for mitali who ( she’s hates fish) stared in horror at the growing pile of fish bones by my side.
All recipes coming up. And stay tuned for Prawn Malai curry that we had on sunday.
Kancha Posto/Kachcha Khuskhus/Raw Poppy Seeds
Serves: 2
Ingredients:
Posto/Khuskhus/Poppy seeds: 30-40 gms
Green chilli: 1-2
Red Chilli powder: 1/2 teaspoon
Salt: to taste
Mustard oil: 1 1/2 teaspoon
Procedure:
1. Soak the posto in water for 15-20 mins. (just wash it if you’re running out of time.) Strain the same by a tea strainer.
2. Grind the posto along with the green chilli with a pestle ( sil batta) or just use the wet grinder small jar in a food processor.( the food proc works only on a slightly larger quantity of posto).
3. Mix posto paste, salt, red chilli powder, mustard oil and 2 table spoon of water in a small katori/ dish and heat it on a electric heater/very low flame till the mixture bubbles slightly. 2-3 mins at the most and you’re done.
Yipee enjoy this pungent and crunchy side dish with boiled rice or by itself.
Food Fiesta at home and Lucknow part -1
Ok so I’ve been away for the weekend, a hard earned break at that and three days of hols meant running of to my home town- Lucknow (capital of U.P.).
On 14th august we had awesome dinner at home (noida). A littlte back ground here.
anyways back after our gym ( we were going to miss it for next three days), we decided to cook rice, chapati, arhar (toor) dal , Aalu Lauer Papor diye torkari ( aalu lauki aur papad ki sabji/ potato, gourd and papad dish)and Kancha Posto to top it all.
Mitali has become quite the expert in making bengali vegetarian dishes and uses mustard oil with every other dish. The Gourd with papad was made by her and turned out great…the veggie was very fresh and tender and the papad was crunchy and soggy in parts , a dash of ghee made it just super….yay
The dal was great as usual. It was the Kancha posto ( kachcha khuskhus/ raw poppy seeds) that was made by yours truly more as an afterthought that turned out so great. it took only 5 mins and was awesome…mitali had it for the first time and loved the crunchy , pungent taste with the rice.
All recipes coming up….
Shukto…a traditional bengali vegetable stew
Karela/Bitter Gourd – 1 small, cut into rings
Alu/Potatoes – 1 medium, cut into1 inch cubes
Sojne data/ Drumsticks – 1 inch long pieces
Kancha Kola/Green Banana – 1 small, 1 inch cubes
Begun/Egg plant – 1 small, 1 inch long pieces
Pepe/Papaya – Quarter of a whole papaya, 1 inch cubes from a
Sheem/Broad Beans – 8-10, cut edges only
Potol/Parwal – 4, slit into quarters longitudinally
Ginger – 1 tsp, paste
Mustard Seeds – 1tsp
Mustard + Poppy seed paste (shorshe + posto bata) – 1 tbsp
Bori/Vadi – 8-10; How to make bori (vadi)?
Sugar – 1/2 tsp
Salt – To taste
Oil – 2 tbsp
Note: It is not mandatory to have all vegetables listed here except karela (bitter gourd) which is an integral part of this dish.
Note: Please do ignore the above note…both mitali and yours truly hate karela. Sorry mom…i never put karela in my shukto.
Cooking procedure:
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Heat oil in pan and fry the bori till they are crunchy. Keep aside and fry the cut karela pieces in the same oil till brownish. Set the fried karela aside.
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Leave 1 tbsp oil in kadhai and heat. Add mustard seeds and fry till seeds splutter.
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Add all vegetables and salt. Cover and cook on medium low heat. The vegetables will be cooked in the water that is derived from the vegetables.
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When the water dries up add ginger paste, sugar and 1/4th cup water or as much as is desired to cook the vegetables and also that leaves some gravy. Shukto is not a dry preparation.
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Cover the kadhai and simmer till vegetables are cooked.
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Add fried karela, and mustard + poppy seed paste. Stir and cook for a minute. Remove from heat.
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Crush and sprinkle the bori (vadis) on the dish.
Serving Suggestions:
This curry may be served hot with rice as a perfect starter for a bengali lunch.



