The Steaming Pot - Easy vegetarian recipes from India

Fresh curry leaves coax you to use them all up before they start to dry, but there is only so much you can add to tempering. How do you make the most of a fat bunch of fresh curry leaves? If you ask me, I’d say make chutney.

Curry leaves and peanut chutney is the recipe I usually turn to, but I tried out an unusual combination this time – a recipe that adds a touch of sweetness to offset the bitterness of curry leaves. With extra notes of nuttiness from poppy seeds and tartness from tamarind, this curry leaves and poppy seed chutney is a one to add to your cherished family recipe handbook.

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Poppy seeds are a relatively new addition to my pantry and I keep a lookout for ways to expand my repertoire with them. I usually turn to Bengali cuisine for inspiration with this spice – aloo posto is a constant favorite. In a net search for poppy seed recipes, Sailu’s recipe for baby eggplant in an Andhra-style poppy seed gravy caught my attention: the sweet notes of jaggery and the tang of tamarind sounded like delightful additions to the base of poppy seed paste.

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Surplus coaxes us towards invention as much as scarcity. I hate to throw food items away and equally hate to have them beyond their "best before" dates. So I’m using up my pack of poppy seeds, that’s dangerously close to expiry, in varied ways Ditto for my bunch of fresh mint leaves. I used some in pudina chutney last night when the mint was freshly plucked – the rest went into this kala chana recipe.

How awesome it is when untried combinations of flavors turn out well.

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Aloo posto is a popular Bengali dish – potatoes cooked in poppy seed paste, served with pooris or plain boiled rice. This delicately flavored curry gets its spice kick from two other trademark Bengali ingredients: mustard oil and panch phoron.

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This ridge gourd potato curry recipe was shared by a Bengali friend, who tells me the cuisine of that area uses poppy seeds abundantly. Given how well this curry turned out, I know this spice is going to become a regular in my pantry.

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