Salmon Posto -- Salmon in Poppy Seed paste

Salmon was not a fish I loved when I first set foot on the shores of this country. I liked neither the taste nor the smell. The very thought of ordering a salmon sent me into bottomless despair. "What is this country where the fish does not taste like Ilish or Rui", I would often cry, my patriotic heart wailing for fish from my motherland. It is always about the food and the fish, isn't it?

I was convinced that my husband's Bong colleague who had gone about the office inviting folks in what sounded like "Plish come to my house, I make pish for you" was actually referring to salmon.

But then the only salmon dishes that we had were in the restaurants, which then were very bland for my taste buds. I was also not fond of the skin-on-salmon and had no idea that I could request the fishmonger to take the skin off.

But we live and learn. We adapt. We love new things and then cannot live without them

Learning from friends, improvising and experimenting, searching the web. we have now found many delicious ways to eat Salmon. It is one of the few fish which adapts itself well to Bengali style dishes like "Shorshe diye Salmon", "Doi Salmon", "Salmon er paaturi" or even a Salmon kalia. Our Salmon experience improved for the better when a friend suggested to bake salmon at a lower heat than other fish. It keeps the fish juicy, he said. And by God, it did. It was so much better and moist when baked at 275F.

Salmon is one of our favorite fish these days and we have it often

A couple of days back I made a Salmon Posto. Rui Posto is something that my Mother makes. I love anything with Posto and so to give salmon a makeover, I made Salmon Posto or salmon in Poppy Seed Curry. You can use any other fish like Rui, Kaatla, Bhetki, Swai or Tilapia in this recipe too. The traditional way is to fry the fish before adding to the posto gravy but of course I baked my salmon.

Also do remember, anything with Posto tastes best with white rice, so though the photo has red rice on the plate, if you have white rice stick to it.

Salmon Posto

Cook Salmon

1 lb of salmon fillet cut in small pieces.
Toss the salmon pieces in salt and turmeric powder

Drizzle olive oil on the salmon pieces, arrange them in a single on a baking tray and bake @275F for 15-20 minutes.


Make a paste of Poppy seeds

Posto aka Poppy Seeds -- a little less than 1/2 Cup
Dry grind the posto in a dry spice grinder or coffee grinder. Mix with water to make a thick paste

Prep  Ingredients

Onion -- 1/2 of a big one or 1 small chopped in small pieces
Tomato -- 2 small tomato chopped
Garlic -- 3-4 cloves of garlic minced
Green Chilies -- 3-4 chopped

Cook

Heat Mustard oil in a saucier/kadhai/frying pan

Temper the hot Oil with 1/4 tsp paanchphoron

Now to the hot oil in the kadhai add
the chopped garlic and
green chilies

Once they start sizzling
add the chopped onion.
Fry at medium high heat until onion turns reddish brown

Add the tomatoes. Cook until tomatoes are all mushed up.

Now add the poppy seeds paste and saute. Add 1 tsp of kashmiri mirch powder and a little turmeric powder.

Saute for 3-4 minutes and then add about 1/2 cup of water. Add salt and little sugar to taste. Cover and let the posto cook. Once in a while remove the cover to see if there is oil rising to the surface. If needed add some more water.

Once you are satisfied with the taste of the posto add the fish. Add 1/2 cup of water at room temp.
Drizzle 1 tsp of Mustard oil. At low heat let it simmer for about 4-5 minutes.

Serve hot with rice.


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