Grinding the posto

There are three posto grinding techniques that most of our contributors shared with us.

1. Grind soaked posto: Soak the dried posto in water for a few hours. Then, drain the excess water and grind until it forms a coarse paste.
2. ‍Dry-grind first, then add water: Dry-grind the posto seeds in short pulses. Then, add a few teaspoons of water and grind again until a thick, coarse paste forms.
3. Dry-grind first, mix water later: First, dry-grind the posto (don't add any water to the grinder). Transfer the posto to a bowl, and add water directly along with the other ingredients. Of the three, this method is our favourite. It lets you control the water when you mix it by hand. It also makes the grinder jar easier to clean.
4. Special mention; toast and grind: Toast the posto seeds on a hot pan for a minute before grinding. The toasted poppy seeds have a nuttier flavour, which you may prefer.

Now, on to the four variations of postor bora.

I. Postor bora for the purists

1. In a mixing bowl, add ground posto, water, salt, sugar, and green chillies. Mix well.
2. Compact them using your palms and turn them into small discs.
3. Fry in mustard oil until the outside becomes brown and crisp.

II. Postor bora with onions

1. Chop onions and green chillies. Grate coconut.
2. In a mixing bowl, add ground posto, chopped onions, grated coconut, salt, and sugar. Drizzle mustard oil on top. Add water.
3. Mix well. Form into small discs.
4. Heat the pan (for a good crust, use an iron pan or skillet). Add mustard oil.
5. Flatten the postor bora. You can coat the boras with an additional layer of raw posto for presentation and crunch. This is mostly ornamental.
6. Fry until the outside becomes golden and crisp.

III. Dal diye postor bora (with mosur dal)

1. Soak mosur dal for 2 hours.
2. Grind with very little water and two green chillies. Keep the grind coarse.
3. In a mixing bowl, add posto and dal, both ground. Add salt, sugar, and chopped green chillies. Drizzle mustard oil on top. Mix well.
4. Shape into small balls. Heat mustard oil in a pan. Fry the bora on low heat until crisp.

IV. Alu diye postor bora (with potatoes)

1. Boil potatoes. Chop onions and green chillies.
2. In a mixing bowl, add boiled potatoes, ground posto, onions, green chillies, salt, and sugar. Drizzle mustard oil. Mash potatoes and mix everything together.
3. Shape them into small balls. Flatten the balls to increase the frying surface area.
4. Heat mustard oil in a pan. Fry until the outside becomes brown and crisp.

Some interesting additions

1. You can add finely chopped ginger or garlic to the ground posto. You can also add ginger and garlic while grinding the posto.
2. You can add chopped cashew nuts and chopped raisins to the paste.
3. While forming the disc, make a small dent in the middle. Put a raisin in it. Using your finger, seal the dent. Shape it using your fingers. The sweetness of the raisin creates a nice contrast with the salt and the heat.
4. You can add kalo jeere or nigella seeds to the paste.
5. Some even like adding toasted cumin seeds to the paste.
6. An excellent suggestion that we received was adding some yellow mustard paste to the ground posto.

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