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Recipes with hilsa steaks

3 recipes that use hilsa steaks, with photos, step-by-step instructions and cook times. The quickest, Ilish bhaja, takes 30 minutes. It is most often cooked with green chillies, mustard oil and turmeric.

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Ilish bhajaFried hilsa fish

Breakfast on Pohela Boishakh in Dhaka means panta bhat, rice soaked overnight in water, eaten under the trees at Ramna with crisp fried hilsa, raw onion and green chilli. Ilish bhaja is the simplest way to cook Bangladesh's national fish: steaks rubbed only with turmeric and salt and fried in mustard oil until the edges crisp and the rich, oily flesh turns soft and sweet. The oil left in the pan, perfumed with the fish, is poured over rice and is half the pleasure. The common mistake is turning the steaks too soon, which tears the delicate skin; leave them until they release from the pan by themselves. The fish is done when the flesh is opaque right through and flakes away from the central bone. Chef's tip: hilsa is full of fine bones, so eat it slowly with your fingers and warn guests who have not tried it before.

30 minBangladeshiFishGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Bhapa ilishSteamed hilsa in mustard

When the monsoon brings hilsa up the Padma and Hooghly rivers, Kolkata households cook bhapa ilish, the fish steamed in a pungent paste of mustard seeds, green chilli and mustard oil in a closed tiffin box. It is the star of Jamai Sasthi and of any rainy-season Sunday, served with plain rice. The fish is rich and tender, with a nose-tingling mustard heat. Suitable as part of a balanced diet: high in protein and omega-3 fats, with no starch in the dish itself. About 340 kcal and 4 g carbohydrate per portion; keep the rice portion modest. The usual mistake is grinding the mustard seeds too long or with warm water, which turns the paste bitter; grind briefly with cold water, a pinch of salt and a green chilli. Hilsa is bony, so eat slowly and warn guests. Chef's tip: drizzle raw mustard oil over the top just before closing the box; it gives the true Bengali aroma.

40 minIndianFishGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Shorshe ilishHilsa in mustard sauce

Hilsa, ilish, is the national fish of Bangladesh, and during the monsoon, when the shoals swim up the Padma and Meghna rivers, families in Dhaka and Chandpur cook it almost daily. Shorshe ilish is the most loved way: steaks of the rich, silvery fish gently simmered in a paste of ground yellow and black mustard seed, green chillies and mustard oil until the sauce turns sharp, creamy and nose-tingling. Eat it with plain white rice and nothing else. Hilsa is very bony, so warn guests and eat slowly; salmon steaks are an easier, less traditional swap. The common mistake is boiling the sauce hard after the mustard paste goes in, which turns it bitter. Chef's tip: grind the mustard seeds with a pinch of salt and a green chilli, and let the paste rest for 10 minutes before cooking; this tames the bitterness.

45 minBangladeshiFishGluten freeSpicy
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Goes well with hilsa steaks