Ilish Pulao Recipe - Bengali Style Hilsa Fish Pilaf is an extremely fragrant and delicious flavoured rice. Ilish is the King of all fishes for us and every part of Ilish (except fins /scales and innards) is eaten with gusto and relish. As fish is the staple diet in Bengali households, Ilish or Hilsa is the king. A very important step once you select the perfect Ilish from the Fish Monger is, after he removes the entrails and roe from the fish and discard. Wash the fish in water thoroughly. DO NOT WASH AGAIN.
Ilish or Hilsa is the National Fish of Bangladesh we being the neighboring country enjoy it with equal zest. Ilish when simply fried in mustard oil become the side dish along with steamed rice. We love Ilish Paturi , Ilish Macher Jhal as much as Ilish er Matha Diye Lau er Torkari (Head of Hilsa Fish cooked with bottle gourd). So Ilish Pulao becomes a delicacy as it brings out the best of Hilsa when cooked with minimum spices to make a pilaf. Serve piping hot Hilsa Fish Pilaf with Raita for lunch.
If you like this recipe and have a look at the below recipes too-
- Black Chickpea Pilaf
- Beetroot Pulao Recipe
- Veg Pulao Recipe
This recipe is a part of Virtual Diwali Potluck Party, where some blogger friends from different parts of world are joining us for Diwali special traditional recipes. Look out for our collective Diwali Potluck recipes on Instagram with #diwalipotluck handle. Dear readers wishing you all a very Happy, Prosperous and Safe Diwali.
Ingredients:
4-5 Ilish pieces or Hilsa fish
1/2 cup Yogurt, whisk it well
1/2 cup crispy Barista (crushed into roughly powder)
1 tsp Ginger paste
5-6 Green chilies, slit
1/2 tsp Salt
4 tbsp Mustard oil
2 tbsp Ghee
For Rice:
2 cups Basmati rice
1/2 Onion for barista
2-3 Green cardamom
4-5 Cloves
2 Bay leaf (tej patta)
2 inch Cinnamon stick
Pinch of yellow food color (optional)
1 tbsp Ghee /Oil
Salt to taste (roughly 2 tbsp)
Method:
Wash the rice and soak it for 20 minutes. We need to make the fish gravy now, for that marinate the Hilsa pieces with salt, green chilies, ginger paste, crushed crispy barista and yogurt. Take a flat plate and apply the marinade on the pieces thoroughly and close with a lid. Leave it for 1/2 an hour.
Heat mustard oil in a deep pan add the marinated fish along with yogurt paste. Cook it in lower medium heat for 10 minutes. Be careful not to break the soft Hilsa fish while cooking. By now the oil should separate from the sides of the pan. Carefully remove the fish pieces and the gravy separately from the pan.
Drain water from the soaked rice and heat water (1:3 ratio of rice to water respectively) in a heavy bottomed vessel. Add green cardamoms, cloves, tej patta, cinnamon stick, a tbsp of ghee/oil along with salt into the vessel. Add rice once the first boil comes and stir well. We need to cook rice only 70% so keep an eye on the state of rice as Basmati rice takes very little time to cook. Turn off the heat and drain off any excess water from half cooked rice.
Best way to make layered biryani is using it either a Handi or open wide vessel with lid.Take some gravy of fish curry and spread it at bottom layer (by doing that you can ensure the rice doesn't get brunt when slow cooking. Now place half of the rice and spread it over gravy, sprinkle some barista, a tsp of ghee and place all the fish pieces and gravy. Finally put the remaining rice on top and repeat the addition of barista, ghee and some yellow food color (optional).
Cover the pan with lid and cook on low flame for 10 minutes.Turn off the flame and wait for few more minutes so the the pilaf absorbs the characteristic fragrant. Be careful while serving as the Ilish should remain intact.
