Posto Chicken (Poppy seeds/Khus khus is Posto in Bengali) was a childhood favourite dish of mine which I later learned to cook from my mother. Succulent chicken pieces coated in thick, aromatic poppy seeds paste, this is something unmatchable. A must try if you’ve not had this before. 🙂
Posto Chicken/Chicken in Poppy seeds gravy
Posto Chicken is a Bengali delicacy where succulent chicken pieces cooked in a thick, garam masala spiced, poppy seeds gravy.
Ingredients
- 1kg (medium sized pieces)- Chicken
- Onion paste of 2 medium sized onions
- 50 grams- Poppy seeds
- 1 tbsp- Garlic paste
- ½ tsp- Turmeric powder
- Few slitted green chilies
- ¼ cup- Vegetable oil
- Salt to taste
- ¾ tsp- Kashmiri mirch powder
- 1 tbsp- Sugar
- 1½ tbsp- Ghee/Clarified butter
- ¼ tsp- Garam masala powder
For tempering
- 2 (broken into halves)- Whole dry red chilies
- 4 (lightly crushed)- Green cardamom
- 3 pieces (1″)- Cinnamon
- ½ tsp (lightly crushed)- Whole Black peppercorn
Instructions
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Wash and grind poppy seeds in a food processor with 1 green chili and water. The paste will be thick, not watery. So, stop the processor in between and keep adding little amount of water. Blitz until smooth paste forms, keep aside.
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Heat oil in a deep frying pan, temper with all the ingredients mentioned ‘for tempering’, stir for a few seconds. Add onion paste and sauté until light brown in color.
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Then add green chilies, turmeric powder, kashmiri mirch powder, and garlic paste. Mix and stir for a minute over medium heat.
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Next to add the freshly washed chicken pieces and salt, mix well. Cover and cook, stir in between.
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When the chicken is half cooked, add poppy seed paste and ½ cup of water. Mix well, cover and cook over low heat until the chicken is done. If you feel the gravy is drying up then only add some hot water at this stage.
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Next to add sugar, garam masala powder, and ghee. Mix well and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
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Remove from the heat. Serve hot with roti, luchi, paratha, naan or rice.