Ilish anarosh

This is the season when most Bengalis get a strange gleam in their eyes. Go to any fish market in any city, and you’ll spot the do-or-die look that I am referring to. You’ll find purposeful Bengalis furiously eyeing all those scaly piles at the fishmonger’s for that one plump fish that would not just make their day, but possibly their year.

I am, of course, talking about the hilsa, or, as the Bengalis call it, the ilish. When it starts to rain, Bengalis have to somehow find a good hilsa to take back home. They’ll spend days in the fish market looking out for the right weight. They will spend a fortune in buying an 1.8kg fish. Then, while the family salivates in anticipation, they’ll cook it simply with onion seeds and green chillies or steam it with a mustard paste. Or, if the day is particularly rainy, they will fry it, and serve it with hot khichuri.

Ilish bhaja

These are traditional recipes, for the hilsa has always been there — though less and less so, thanks to over-fishing and other related problems. But our chefs, who worship the fish as much as the people of Bengal do, are forever looking at new ways to showcase this much- loved delicacy. Sometimes they come up with new recipes — such as cooking the fish in orange sauce. Often, they pull out old recipes — such as wrapping the fish in an edible gourd leaf and allowing it to steam with boiling rice.

This season, Chef Sujan Mukherjee of Calcutta’s Taj Bengal has unfurled an ilish promotional at its restaurant, Sonargaon. And what’s new about the festival is that it showcases recipes from both Bengal and Bangladesh.

Ilish curry in a rush

I’ve been listening to tales of the Bangladesh ilish for long years. My mother, who ran away from her Faridpur home when she was about 16 (her tyrannical grandmother wanted her to get married to a zamindar but my mother had other dreams), used to tell me about the great ilish pulao she would eat in the steamers that they took to cross the mighty rivers of Bangladesh. The visiting chefs of Bangladesh too have created an ilish pulao — which they say is a speciality from Dhaka — at the festival. It’s an interesting combination of hilsa and Basmati rice flavoured with mustard.

I’d say it’s quite a daring feat — to pit the fish recipes from this side of the border against those from the other side — for both kinds of cuisine have their share of loyal fans. I find that the Bangladeshi dishes are a bit more innovative. Take their ilish anarosh, which is a sweet-and-sour dish of hilsa cooked with pineapple, or the ilish tikka, which is a small fillet patty flavoured with coriander. They even have something called ilish curry in a rush, a pun on the way of cooking, as well as the name of the chef who has evolved the recipe. I am told Rashika Osman, or Rush, likes to cook fusion dishes — and this dish is quickly rustled up with readymade spices that are always found in a normal kitchen.

Of course, the fish dishes from this side of Bengal are not lagging behind either (though my late mother would always insist that they couldn’t beat the ‘bangaal’ dishes). The Taj executive chef offers the paturi — boneless hilsa marinated with a mustard paste and steamed in a banana leaf — and the ilish tok jhal, which comes in a sweet-and-sour gravy cooked with mango and fenugreek seeds. There is also the immensely popular bhapa ilish — something that my in-laws excelled in — which is a steamed dish flavoured with mustard and curd.

Clearly, there are ways and ways to cook the ilish — and each is more exciting than the other. That explains the Bengali’s manic look that I was talking about. As far as the Bengali is concerned, if there be a heaven on earth, this is it, this is it, this is it.       

Ilish pulao

(To serve four)

Ingredients

• 600gm hilsa • 300gm Basmati rice • 70ml mustard oil • 25gm green chilli pickle • 4-6 slit green chillies • 5gm black onion seeds (Kalunji) 1tsp turmeric powder ½ tsp sugar lWater, as required • Salt, to taste • 15gm whole mustard seeds ½ tsp turmeric powder

Method

Take the fish and clean and cut it into medium-sized pieces. Apply salt and a little turmeric to the fish and keep it aside for 30 minutes. Wash and soak the rice for 30 minutes. Boil adequate water to cook the rice. Strain the soaked rice and boil till 3/4th done. Take a pan and heat 50ml of mustard oil. When it starts smoking, cool it a little, and then add the mustard seeds. When they start crackling, add slit green chillies. Add the hilsa pieces and the green chilli pickle and cook for a minute. Add turmeric powder and salt.Reduce the flame and layer the fish with the cooked Basmati rice. Cover the pan with a lid. Cook in dum on low heat till the fish is tender. Serve hot.

Ilish maacher paturi

(To serve four)

Ingredients

• 4 boneless hilsa fillets • 80gm mustard oil • 75gm mustard paste • 2gm onion seeds • 1tsp turmeric powder • 5gm red chilli powder • 5gm sugar Salt, to taste 4 banana leaves (each a 6-inch square)

Method

Cut and clean the fish fillets into 4-inch squares. Marinate it with half the mustard oil, onion seeds, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and salt. Keep aside for an hour. Now add mustard paste, sugar and the remaining mustard oil. Adjust the seasoning and again keep aside for half an hour. Cut the banana leaves into squares and put on a hot griddle for half-a-minute to soften them. Take each fish piece and wrap it in a leaf. Pierce with a toothpick so that the wrapped leaf does not open up. Put it in the steamer for 5-8 minutes or until the fish is cooked. Serve hot.