Kacha Posto Bora (Poppy seed small cakes)

Posto bora is a rare delicacy cooked in the bengali household. Also known as poppy seed cakes, these posto (poppy seed) boras (small round cakes) are yummilicious.

It is rarely made may be because poppy seeds are expensive and these boras are so mouthwateringly tasty that you need to make lots of them. Easy to cook and make here is the recipe. Can be eaten with steamed rice and plain daal.

What you need:

• Posto / poppy seeds – 1 cup

• Green chilies – 3 finely chopped

• Green chilies – 2 for grinding

• Onion – 1 finely chopped

• Maida / besan – 3 to 4 tbsp

• Salt & sugar to taste

• Mustard oil for frying

Preparation

Soak the posto in water along with a pinch of salt for 30 minutes. Now in a grinder add the posto with the water and 2 green chilies. Make sure the mixture turns in to a smooth paste with no grains visible.

Now in a bowl add chopped onions, green chilies, ground posto and mix well. Add salt and sugar. Some like it sweet and some like it salty. Add the seasoning as per your taste. Add the besan or maida so that it binds well and the mixture no longer remains runny. Now add a little bit of mustard oil and mix well.

In a non-stick pan, heat little bit of oil. Make small round cakes and gently put them in the pan one by one. Fry them in the medium heat so that they don’t burn. Turn the boras once they are done to cook on the other side.

Once done, drain the boras in a paper towel. You posto bora is ready to eat. Serve hot.

Karaishutir Kachuri (Green Peas Kachori)

Green peas kachori is a Bengali delicacy, specially for morning breakfast or dinner. It can be eaten with aloo dum, any mixed veg sabzi or even kosha mangsho (dry mutton curry). There are other varieties of green peas kachori such as dal kachori, hing kachori, etc.

Green peas kachori is basically puris with green peas stuffing.

So here goes the recipe:

For Kachori:

• Maida – 2 cups

• Ghee – 3 tbsp

• Salt – ½ tsp

For filling of the Kachori:

• Green peas – 500 grms

• Grated ginger – 1 tsp

• Green chilies – 3 to 4

• Jeera – 1 tsp

• Hing- 1 pinch

• Amchoor Powder (optional) – 1 tsp

• Sugar & Salt to taste

• Oil/ghee for frying the kachori & filling

Preparation:

Take a mixing bowl and add maida, salt and mix well. Add the quantity of ghee and water to make it into a soft dough.

Wash the green peas. In a mixer add the green peas, ginger, green chillies and a pinch of salt and a bit of water and grind it into a fine paste.

In a kadai, add a bit of ghee. Add a jeera and hing and wait for it to splutter. Add the mixture and stir till the green peas mixture is cooked. You will notice that the color is turning to light brown. Stir constantly to avoid the mixture from sticking to the bottom of the kadai.

Once done, keep it aside and let it cool. When the mixture cools down divide the mixture into small round balls.

Divide the maida dough into medium sized balls. Don’t make the balls too small otherwise the green peas mixture will come out. Press with the thumb in the middle of each ball to flatten it a bit. Take each green peas mixture ball and place it in the middle of the maida ball and cover it with the maida dough. Close it well and with a rolling pin flatten the ball into a puri. Use dry maida to roll each ball so that it does not stick.

Heat oil or ghee in a kadai enough to deep fry the puris. Once the oil is heated, slowly slip one puri. Press gently with the frying spoon so that each becomes puffed. Slowly turn the puri to fry the other side. Fry till the puris are golden brown in color.

Remove and drain in a paper towel. Serve immediate with any mixed vegetable curry, dum aloo or mutton kosha.

Your green peas kachori is ready to eat