Chichinga Chingri Posto

Posto is a traditional Bengali dish. The dish is slightly spiced, and posto or poppy seed paste is the star of the dish. Here, I present you snake gourd/chichinga posto with chingri(prawns). Snake gourd is a seasonal vegetable and tastes amazing when cooked with posto. This is actually a very simple preparation, and can easily be a part of your regular meals at home.

Course: Main course

Cuisine: Bengali (Indian)

Preparation time: 15 mins

Cook time: 20 mins

Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 3 medium sized snake gourd peeled and cut into small pieces
• 4 tablespoon of poppy seed soaked in water.
• 100g of small prawns head removed and deveined
• 3 tablespoons of ground coconut
• Salt to taste
• 2 green chillies
• A pinch of turmeric powder
• ¼ tsp of kalojeera or nigella seeds
• 2 tablespoons of oil for cooking

Directions

1. Grind the poppy seed paste along with the coconut and little water to make a smooth paste.Keep it aside
2. Marinate the prawns with turmeric powder and salt and keep them aside.
3. Take a kadai, add oil and let it heat. Fry the prawns and keep them aside. (see Notes)
4. To the remaining hot oil, add the kalojeera/ nigella seeds.
5. As the kalojeera starts spluttering, add the chopped snake gourd and saute them for about a minute or two.
6. Add the salt and green chilies and continue sauteing the vegetable for another 30 seconds.
7. Add the poppy seeds and coconut paste to the kadai and keep stirring for few minutes and then cook covered. Add a splash of water if necessary.
8. Also, add the prawns to the kadai, mix everything together and continue cooking on medium flame.
9. Cook the snake gourd till it is completely done and there is no water in the kadai.
10. Turn off the flame.
11. Serve with steaming rice, daal and some bhaja on the side.

Notes

1. Care must be taken not to over fry the prawns else they will turn rubbery.

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