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| Aalu Posta or Aalu Khus Khus |
This is the food item that started my love affair with food. It was love at first bite, I was still a small child, I don't know why out of all dishes, why this particular one won over my heart (although I do have romantic attachment with a lot of other food items too :P ;) ) Well, there never is any tangible reason why one falls in love with someone, I never bothered to know. All I know is that Aalu Posta continues to rule my heart ever since ^_^
When I was a child (being a grumpy one at that), no matter how upset I would be, but the moment Mummy would prepare and place a plate full of aalu posta before me, my mood would suddenly change for the better in seconds and I would hug mummy like anything.
There were also so many instances when I would sneak into the kitchen and finish up the entire amount of aalu posta from the kadhai, being overcome with greed. And then I would act innocent as if I had no knowledge who had eaten up all, when Mummy would enquire me and my brother after seeing the empty kadhai! :D Nostalgic memories.
Now that I am away from her, I feel numb while preparing this dish. I miss her so much.
Potatoes are skinned and then cut into cubes, are then sautéed for a few minutes in mustard oil seasoned with slit green chillies and black cumin seeds and then are cooked with a paste of poppy seeds (known as khus khus in Hindi) till they get done. This is how mummy prepares and passed on the method to me, although various people in Odisha also use onions sometimes while some others make a watery gravy too. I prefer this way of preparing 'Aalu Posta'.
Ridge gourd (jahni in Odia or Turai in Hindi) is also sometimes cooked with the potatoes (Jahni Aalu Posta). But remember, no turmeric powder or red chilli powder is ever used in the preparation or else the flavours of poppy seed paste won't come out fully.
Aalu Posta goes very well with steamed rice and dal and so also with paranthas or puris.
