Bhapa ilish

Oh no, not another ilish recipe! Please, please do bear with my ilish fetish! This one is just perfect for lazy cooks like me since you don’t need to fry the fish. And since it is so delicious, you get away with it.

This recipe is from my friend Somenath who counts himself as one of the “best ilish cooks” ever and this dish is almost a permanent fixture on his dinner party menu. As always, i have not followed the exact recipe. i was told that the mustard seeds to poppy seeds ratio should be 2:1 but i made it 1:1 because i don’t like the sauce/gravy to be too pungent. Also, i omitted coconut milk (actually, i was planning to ‘milk’ a fresh coconut but it turned out to be not too fresh and had to be discarded).

Bhapa ilish

Things you need:

4-5 pieces ilish

2 teaspoons black mustard seeds

2 teaspoons poppy seeds

3-4 green chillies

Turmeric

Salt to taste

Mustard oil

1-2 teaspoon coconut milk

1 teaspoon curd/yoghurt

The method:

Wash the fish and pat dry. Marinate with turmeric and salt for about half an hour or so. Soak the mustard and poppy seeds for about 15 minutes or more (i don’t know why but i soak them for more than 6 hours! i usually make this for dinner so i start soaking the seeds from morning. It is crazy, i know but i like doing it for no particular reason). Grind the soaked seeds  along with one or two green chillies to make a thick paste. Add the yoghurt, coconut milk and about 1 teaspoon of mustard oil to the paste and mix well. Coat the marinated ilish pieces with this paste.

Arrange the nicely coated ilish pieces in an oven proof dish. Drizzle some mustard oil over it and throw in two or three green chillies slit lengthwise (well, you don’t have to ‘throw ‘ the chillies in – it would do just as well to place them nice and gently on top of the ilish, between the pieces or wherever you like!). Cover with aluminium foil and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes at 160 centigrades.

Alternatively, you could use a pressure cooker. Stack the pieces in a tiffin box (steel and not one of those plastic school lunch boxes) and put in the cooker with just enough water for steaming. Cook for one whistle.

Bhapa ilish