About The Author
Hello! From Chuchura (in Hooghly District) and a foodie, I created this blog with a mission to preserve the food of the land; with a message to encourage and promote clean and real food. I hope you enjoy and gain out of this blog, happy reading!
Looking forward to read and hear your feedback.
If there is one dish that Bengalis hold closest to their heart, it is Ilish Bhapa.
This is a dish for you if you love the punch of the mustard. Extremely soft, melt-in-the-mouth, buttery fish fillets cooked without effort.
Take a tiny portion of the gravy, mix it in the hot steaming rice with your fingers and take a mouthful. You will smell the aroma of the mustard while your taste buds get lovingly punched by the mustard while a tinge of sweetness from the coconut lingers on. The fish has a buttery texture and melts in your mouth immediately.
Getting Lucky with Ilish Bhapa
Ilish or Hilsa is a seasonal fish. The fish is mostly available during the monsoons and that too in very limited quantities. That explains why it is so expensive.
Like everything, hilsa too has it’s favorites.
Ask any Bengali about the best hilsa in India, and he or she will point you towards Bangladesh. Without a doubt, the best Ilish comes from the river Padma in Bangladesh.
The fish is imported in India and enters the country through the Interpol borders in Bongaon, a city in North 24 Parganas in Bengal.
My memories of the best Ilish Bhapa ever goes to my childhood days when I would go to my maternal uncle’s house in Bongaon and my maternal grandma would request the fish seller to keep the best ‘Padmar Ilish’ for her.
And then she would cook a plethora of dishes for all of us, slogging the entire day in kitchen and showering us with love with the most excellent food throughout the day.
Having talked about Padma, the fish from here fetches the highest rate in the world market.
On special occasions in Bengal like Durga Pujo, this price increases many fold and the house-in-charge has a tough time managing his finances to budget for the Ilish. And the Bengali middle-class always ensures that he manages to get some ilish home.
Try This!
Many also prefer to rub in green chilies that gets smothered by the mustard during the steaming process. If you are someone that does not hate the pungent chilies, this is a must try.
Choosing Your Hilsa for Ilish Bhapa
Getting hilsa or ilish today is dependent on a lot of factors like your location, and the monsoon weather. If it rains properly, the fishes get to swim and reach the catchment area from where they are netted and brough to the markets.
If you happen to be in Bengal and Odisha, your chance of getting an affordable ilish is high. In other metros of India like Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Delhi you get highly frozen ones. But they are still good.
A Bengali’s choice of Ilish has always been ‘Padma first, Ganga next’. This literally means that Padma’s ilish is better than the ones farmed in the Ganges.
Now that I have stayed in Odisha for some time, I get my quota of hilsa every year from the local markets.
And these fishes are neither from Padma or the Ganges. The markets of Odisha have the fish sourced from Balasore and Mahanadi.
Choosing hilsa is a tough job because your options are extremely limited.
You can only pray to get some hilsa if you are staying outside Bengal, and that too by drilling a hole in your pocket. And most Bengalis and Odias, I have found, are okay splurging on this seasonal delicacy.
It’s a must every monsoon!
A Word of Caution on Hilsa & An Earnest Request
Unfortunately, a good ilish should weigh between 2-3 kg.
However, these days it is extremely difficult to get hilsas of this size because of over-fishing. Smaller sizes of the fish are caught using finer nets and sold in the market to fulfill the high demand.
Bangladesh, for example, has banned the practice of catching smaller ilish.
Finallyfoodie.com requests you to reverse this trend and practice the following:
- Do not buy an ilish fish that weighs less than 600 grams
- Do not buy hilsa between the months of October and February
We are in August, the peak of monsoon season. Let’s whip up ilish bhapa in our kitchen!
I have noticed that that using poppy seeds does not help elevate the dish. You can still use it, however, I don’t find a reason to use it when it does not help in improving the flavors.
Note
The equipment & ingredient quantity provided in this recipe is to assist you in cooking this dish. Feel free to experiment with your ingredients. Remember that we all have different set, size & shape of kitchen tools in our pantry.
Equipment
- Mixie
- Preparation Bowls and Spoon
- Tiffin Box wide enough to hold the fish pieces and mustard marinade
- Pressure cooker or wok
- Serving Plates
Ingredients
- 200 g Ilish or Hilsa fish
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 2 tsp sugar
- 4 pc green chilies
- 2 tsp mustard oil
- 1 tsp salt or to taste
Make a Paste of
- 1 tsp black or brown mustard seeds
- 2 tsp yellow mustard seeds
- 1 tsp poppy seeds optional
- 4 pc green chilies
- 1/2 cup coconut cut into small pieces, optional
- water read notes for details on how much water to use for ilish bhapa
Instructions
Preparation for Ilish Bhapa or Steamed Hilsa
- Soak the mustard and poppy seeds in water for 15 minutes
- In a mixie, add the mustard, poppy seeds, and green chilies as mentioned under "Make a Paste of" and ground to a fine paste. Add water if needed. Keep aside in the tiffin box
- Put the coconut pieces as mentioned under "Make a Paste of" in the mixie and grate finely. Add to the previous tiffin box
- Add the turmeric powder, salt and sugar to the tiffin box and mix properly
- To the tiffin box add the Hilsa or ilish fish pieces and marinade properly
- Slit the green chilies and add it on the top
- Add the oil, put the lid on
- Allow to rest for 15 minutes
Cooking the Ilish Bhapa
- Take a pressure cooker or wok and put it on medium flame
- Add 2 cups of water and cover it. Once the steam starts forming, put the tiffin box inside and cover. If you are using a pressure cooker, do not put on the whistleIf you are using a pressure cooker, add 5-6 cups of waterDo not add water if you wish to cook this on microwave oven
- In a wok: Allow to steam and cook for the next 15-20 minutes, orIn a pressure cooker: Cook with the lid on for 3 whistles, orIn a microwave over: Use a microwave safe bowl and cook on high temperature for 10 minutes
- Using a towel, carefully take out the tiffin box and unlid it
- Serve hot with rice
Notes
- Choose your tiffin box wisely. A small one will prevent the steam from forming and lead to a not-so-pleasing experience. As a matter of thumb, your fish and marinade should not cover more than 60% of your tiffin box
- If you are a bachelor or someone who can’t grate fresh coconuts, you may use a couple of spoons of dessicated coconut powder available in grocery store or online
- Poppy seeds and coconut are both optional. In fact, poppy seeds does not make any positive difference and hence you can skip it and reduce the cost
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Can we use any other fish varieties?
What if we temper this with dry chillies and cumins at the end. I know it’s not the authentic way, but I think pouring some hot tempering will add a nice flavour since the entire dish is just steamed and not cooked directly in a pan like usual gravies. What is your thought?
That would be another dish and it might taste good! Do try and share the result.
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