Bhapa Shorshe Ilish Recipe-
Ilish Bhape or Bhapa Shorshe Ilish is the quintessential Bong fish preparation. Come Mansoon and Bengalis will start making a bee line in the fish market to fetch out the best ilish from the fresh catch. Hilsa or Ilish undoubtedly stands tall above all other fish varieties and the heavier it is, the tastier it is. Fish is the staple diet of Bengalis and we make plenty of dishes with Ilish.
The excess demand in and around the world has made Ilish /hilsa staring at the danger of extinction so we should save our pride so that our next generation too can enjoy the heavenly dishes from Ilish.
'Bhapa' in Bengla means 'steamed', the procedure is quite simple actually, all you need is an air tight steel tiffin box in which after adding all the ingredients with the Hero of the dish (be it Fish or Vegetable), the food is cooked in its own steam. And 'Shorse' means mustard sauce, now black mustard seeds is more pungent than yellow variety so if you want more pungent smell and flavour you can take 2 tbsp black Mustard Seeds instead of 1 tbsp in the given recipe. This Bhapa Shorshe Ilish preparation is best enjoyed with steamed rice. So let's get started!
Do check my Ilish Pulao recipe and Ilish Paturi recipe too.
Ingredients:
4-5 pieces of Hilsa / Ilish
1 tsp Black mustard seeds
1 tsp Yellow mustard seeds
2 tbsp curd (*Beat the curd thoroughly)
2 tbsp grated fresh Coconut
4-5 Green chilies (slitted)
1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Sugar
1/4 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder
2 tbsp Mustard oil
Method:
First step is to season the fish pieces with a little bit of salt and turmeric. Keep aside.
Soak mustard seeds in water for 2 hours. In Bengali households we have Shil-Noda (Sil-Batta) which is used for grinding and making paste of different spices. We can achieve the same result with a mixi- grinder. Grind mustard seeds with a pinch of salt and 2 green chilies. Here I would point out the importance of adding salt while making the paste of mustard seeds, it reduces the bitterness to great extent. So don't skip adding salt and green chillies while grinding mustard seeds. Now add the grated coconut into the jar and make a smooth paste.
Take a steel tiffin box and add beaten curd, slit green chillies, kashmiri red chilli powder, sugar, place the fish pieces and add the above paste. Coat the fish uniformly with the paste, add salt and a generous dose of mustard oil. Close the lid of the steel box.
Take a thick bottom pan / kadhai and pour little water and place a separator. Carefully place the tiffin box in a way that water should not enter inside the tiffin box (check again that only half portion of the tiffin box is immersed into the water). Cook for 10 minutes on medium flame. Once done, take out the tiffin box out of the pan and open the lid. Serve hot with piping hot steamed rice and enjoy your meal.
