Friday, October 27, 2017

Dim Narkel Posto -- Egg Curry with Poppy seeds and Coconut

Dim Posto or Dim Narkel Posto -- Egg Curry with Poppy seeds paste
Dim Posto

Almost everyday I tell the girls, "Practice makes Perfection. You have to practice <*> everyday if you want to be good at it". Into the wild card goes everything from math, piano, gymnastics to combing hair. By now they have heard it so often that they turn a deaf ear to my gyaan.

Now I will let you on to secret. Though I give them this gyaan repeatedly, I don't always adhere to it. Definitely not when it comes to cooking.

I mean look at it this way. I am an adult! It is not for nothing that I have grown up to pay monthly bills and worry about them. I need some leeway, some pleasure out of this whole growing-up business, something that will make my adulthood worth it. And that is not to achieve perfection. At least not in my kitchen. For to be perfect in cooking any dish, I need to do it again and again and again. That is B-O-R-I-N-G. And then who is going to eat that same thing tell me?

So instead of practicing the same thing over and over, I fleet around from one recipe to another, jumping to add a tomato where it is not called for, posto aka poppy seed paste where unnecessary. My rutis can take whatever shape they want but I am not rolling them until they are round! Of course all of this fleeting around is bound within certain constraints like
a) has to be easy peasy
b) the end product will not be so wild that it will be untouched by my house humans.



Following this line of thought, I made something different with eggs few weeks back. A Dim Posto Narkol or Dim Narkol Posto or Narkol Posto Dim or whatever that required eggs, posto aka poppy seeds -- a Bengali's favorite spice, and coconut. Now my mother did make a Dim Posto and even a Dim Shorshe posto, so technically I am not crossing uncharted territories here. It is just that this Dim Narkel Posto is, you know different!

Try it. We loved it and even Big Sis who is no lover of eggs grudgingly admitted "Eita khub bhalo hoyeche"! She doesn't know about my personal policies on perfection yet. Don't tell them!


Dim Narkel Posto -- Egg Curry with Poppy seeds and Coconut


Prep

Boil eggs. You better  know how to since there are more complex steps following this

Make a paste of 1/4th Cup of Poppy seeds + 1/2 Cup of grated coconut. To do this, I follow these steps
Method1: Soak Poppy seeds for 30 mins. Grate a coconut or if using frozen one, defrost it. Now if You have an awesome wet grinder you can put the soaked poppy seeds, coconut and 2 green chilies in the grinder and blitz it to get a smooth paste.

Method2: Dry grind the poppy seeds to make a dry powder. Pour it out in a bowl and make a thick paste by adding a splash of water. Grate a coconut or if using frozen defrost the grated frozen coconut. Now in your regular mixer add the poppy seed paste, coconut and 2 green chilies. Blitz to make a smooth paste.

Chop 1 medium sized onion. Use 3/4th for frying and reserve 1/4th for garnish

Chop 1 medium tomato in small pieces

Mince 2 fat clove of garlic and chop 4 green chilies in slits

Cook

Heat Mustard oil in a saucier/kadhai/frying pan

With a pinch of turmeric powder  fry the boiled eggs. Now I fry them lightly until they are a pale yellow. Some folks like frying until the skin crinkles and the egg is a shade of reddish orange. You stick to your style.

Once the eggs have cooled down, cut them in half along the length

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 posto+narkel 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 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. I like the coconut cooked all the way through until there is no distinct coconut smell. This takes about 6-8 minutes

Once you are satisfied with the taste of the narkel-posto add the halved eggs, sprinkle the chopped onion reserved for garnish, Drizzle 1 tsp of Mustard oil and then put the lid back on. At low heat let it simmer for about 4-5 minutes.

Serve hot with rice.






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