Aloo Posto

Ingredients

• 50 g white poppy seeds (posto)
• 500 g potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 cm cubes
• 4 green chillies
• 60 ml mustard oil
• 1/4 tsp nigella seeds (kalonji)
• 2 dried red chillies
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp sugar
• 150 ml hot water

Before you cook

• Soak the poppy seeds in warm water for 2 hours, then drain them well.
• Grind the drained poppy seeds with 2 of the green chillies and 75 ml water to a coarse, slightly grainy paste.
• Peel the potatoes and cut them into even 1 cm cubes.
• Slit the remaining 2 green chillies lengthways.

Steps

1. Heat 50 ml of the mustard oil in a kadai or heavy frying pan until it is pale yellow and just beginning to smoke.
2. Drop in the dried red chillies and the nigella seeds and let them sizzle for about ten seconds.
3. Add the potato cubes and fry them for five minutes, stirring often so they stay pale rather than browning.
4. Stir in the poppy-seed paste along with the salt and the sugar.
5. Cook on low heat for four minutes, until the chalky raw smell of the poppy seeds disappears.
6. Pour in the hot water and cover the pan.
7. Cook on low heat for twelve to fifteen minutes, until a potato cube crushes easily against the side of the pan.
8. Uncover and cook for two more minutes so the paste clings to the potatoes instead of pooling underneath.
9. Turn off the heat, add the slit green chillies and the remaining spoonful of raw mustard oil, and stir once.
10. Cover for two minutes to let the raw oil perfume the dish, then serve with plain rice.