Begun-Zucchini Posto

Eggplant-Zucchini Posto

Our neighbour across the street shared his bumper crop of Japanese eggplants and zucchini with us. The eggplants were young, seedless, tender and tasted so much better than what's available in the stores around here. 

Posto are white poppy seeds (sometimes combine with mustard seeds), green chilies and salt to make a creamy sauce that goes with most vegetables, fish or chicken. It serves to thicken gravy and has a soporific effect, ideal for lunch, eaten before taking a nap.

Leaving the skin on the zucchinis prevents them from dissolving into mush while cooking and gives this dish a better colour.

Zucchini Karaishuti'r Bhortha - Zucchini and Peas Mash

Zucchini and Peas Bhortha

If you love Baingan Bhartha, like I do, you'll like this too. DH brought home so many fresh zucchinis last week that I was able to make a zucchini bread and this bhortha. Our Ninja Chopper, a cherished gift from our daughter-in-law, made short work of rough-chopping the zucchinis. 

Zucchini Chingri

Zucchini/Lau Chingri

Lau Chingri is a beloved item on the Bengali menu, but lau (or bottle gourd) is  sometimes available only in an Indian market, so instead of lamenting its paucity, a great substitute is to use zucchini which is plentiful at our local super and farmers' markets. This started out with 7 fresh zucchini which reduced down to very little due to the high water content in the vegetables. I like to leave the skin on when cooking zucchini this way so that they don't turn to mush when they're cooked.

This goes well with both hot basmati rice and chapatis. 

Lau Shukto - Bottle Gourd in Mustard and White Poppy Seed Sauce

Lau Shukto

I love kitchen gadgets and finally broke down and bought a julienne-peeler. It's so easy to use and made short work of peeling and julienning 3 chayote squash.

On the menu for dinner was jumbo prawns steamed in mustard (sorshe) sauce. The ground mustard is strained for this dish, but I don't feel good about discarding the pulp, so I used it for making this lau shukto. Even though I didn't use bottle gourd (lau), chayote squash tastes just like it. The former is not available in the supermarkets and requires a special trip to an Asian or Indian market, so I often substitute chayote squash for bottle gourd. Any Indian preparation that uses bottle gourd tastes just as good with this squash. Zucchini is another option that works well.

Both the mustard and white poppy seeds are ground with a green chili each and salt. The bitterness of the black mustard seeds is eliminated by soaking them in an equal quantity of salt and tap water for at least 2 hours or until the seeds turn red. They need to be rinsed thoroughly through several changes of water to get rid of the salt. I use a tea strainer to do this.

The white poppy seeds are soaked in boiling water and set aside to cool to room temperature. This softens the seeds and produces a smoother paste when blended.

This is a very quick and easy dish to prepare once the two sauces are blended. Using the julienne-peeler cut the squash in very even strips, so it took no time at all to cook.

Zucchini & Potatoes with Lentil Dumplings

Zucchini Alu Bori

This dish is usually made with bottle gourd (lau/lauki) but since it is only available in the Indian markets, I used zucchini which is similar in texture and taste.

Lentil dumplings, known as 'Bori' in Bengali, are small stupa-shaped mashed and sun-dried lentils flavoured with asafetida and seasoned with salt. They are deep fried until golden brown and soaked in hot water to soften. Since some of the flavour leaches into the water in which they are soaked, I save this soaking liquid and add it back into the dish that is being prepared, to maximize on the taste.

Mung Dal with Zucchini

Mung Dal with Zucchini

Mung dal is most often roasted before cooking, but it cooks and tastes very good without roasting. I try to add vegetables to any lentils I cook to increase my family's intake of vegetables.

Burmese Stir-Fried Chayote Squash

Chayote squash is also known as choko or Darjeeling squash and may be replaced with zucchini or bottle gourd. Select light green chayote squash which indicate they're still young and sweet. 

Muro Lau

Squash with Fish Bones

I remember Mum making this for us. She is such an inspiration to us all! She had such a zest for life and enjoyed cooking till the last and was so willing to share her recipes. I've tried to reproduce this as best my memory will allow.

Fish bones are available in any oriental market that sells live and fresh fish.  The bones that are left over from filleting fish are packaged and sold separately.  Fish heads may be included among the fish bones.  I recently purchased a package of Garupa/Grouper fish bones which was used in this recipe. Marinating the fish bones in garlic paste, turmeric and salt removes the fishy smell.  

The green chilies are of a tiny Thai variety that I grew in a container on my front porch. When the weather got too cold I had to harvest the remaining chilies on the plant so I froze them in a ziploc bag and have been using them ever since. If left to ripen on the plant, the chilies turn a bright red.

Chayote squash may be replaced with Lau/Lauki (Bottle Gourd) or Zucchini.

Ingredients:

3 chayote squash, peeled & julienned

Marinate for ½ hour: 

1 pkg. (1½ lbs.) fish bones, cut in pieces

1 Tbsp. garlic paste

½ tsp. turmeric

Salt 

Gravy:

1 cup hot water

1 Tbsp. ginger paste

½ tsp. roasted cumin powder

Salt to taste

Aromatics:

2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1 green chili, chopped

¼ tsp. cumin seeds or Shah Jeera

¼ tsp. black mustard seeds

Garnishes:

4 green chilies

2 Tbsp. chopped cilantro

½ tsp. garam masala powder

1 tsp. ghee

Method:

1.    Marinate fish bones in garlic paste, salt and turmeric for ½ hour.

2.    Bring water to boil & simmer gravy ingredients over low heat until needed.

3.    Heat oil in a pan and pan-fry fish bones until golden; set aside.

4.    In the same oil, fry aromatics, stir in squash and cook until soft.

5.    Add simmering gravy and fish bones, cover and cook until oil resurfaces.

6.    Garnish with garam masala powder, green chilies, cilantro and ghee.

7.    Serve on a bed of hot Basmati rice.

Zucchini Chingri Posto

Zucchini and Shrimp in White Poppy Seed Gravy

This is a variation of Jhinge Chingri Posto. Jhinge is ridge gourd which is not readily available in the U.S. Zucchini and Chayote Squash are similar in taste, so I've substituted zucchini for the ridge gourd today.

Ingredients: 
7-10 medium zucchini, peeled and cubed
1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
3 Tbsp. white poppy seeds, soaked in boiling water for 30 minutes
1 Tbsp. ginger paste
1/4 tsp. nigella or kalonji or kalo jeera seeds
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
salt to taste
1 tsp. ghee

Directions:

1. Boil a cup of water and soak poppy seeds for half an hour. 
2. Heat 1 Tbsp.oil, mix shrimp with salt, fry until it turns pink and set aside.
3. Heat remaining oil over high heat and sputter nigella seeds.
4. Add ginger paste and zucchini, stir and cook until tender.
5. Blend poppy seeds along with water in which they were soaked.
6. Adjust salt to taste in zucchini and add poppy seed paste.
7. Stir and cook until most of the gravy has evaporated.
8. Add shrimp, stir and cook for a minute or two and remove from heat.
9. Garnish with ghee and serve with hot cooked rice.

Bottle Gourd with Shrimp

This is one of Mum's recipes and is the Burmese version of Lau Chingri.  Bottle gourd is available in Indian grocery stores, but can be replaced with zucchini or chayote squash.