Apparently the best and the most precious Ilish (Hilsa) comes from the river Padma of Bangladesh. Pôdda is the Bengali name for the same river.
The best quality of Ilish is known by its silver skin, which almost scintillates to your touch. Its scales are softer compared to a Rohu or Katla, two other voraciously consumed river fish by the Bengalis.
A fresh Ilish’s taste is the avatar of butter. Silken and oily, Ilish has a distinct taste, probably from the freshwater plankton it feeds on. You don’t have to be an Ilish connoisseur to quickly separate a fresh from a not-so-fresh Ilish. The latter will become chewy and also not have its deep and distinct flavor.
I do not know what exactly the word “Paturi” means. But the connotation is “steamed” or bhapa. Traditionally, Paturi is made by wrapping the fish in fresh banana leaves and steaming it. Though I do get to eat the best quality Ilish in Canada, I am not quite close to finding banana leaves (or a tree!) in layers of snow outside. Thus I am forced to settle with something that every city-dweller has convenient access to. The microwave.
Ingredients for Ilish Maacher Paturi are:
4-6 slices of Ilish
Half teaspoon + 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
4-5 heaped tablespoons yellow mustard seeds
1 tablespoon khus khus/posto/poppy seeds
2.5 tablespoons plain yogurt
5 + 7-8 green chilies
5-6 tablespoons mustard oil
Salt
Grind to a smooth paste the mustard seeds, poppy seeds, half teaspoon turmeric powder and 4-5 green chilies. Use little water to wet grind. What I do is, first dry grind the mustard and poppy seeds and then introduce the green chilies with very little water to get the smooth consistency.
Cover with a cling wrap and keep for at least 10 minutes. Microwave the fish for 10 minutes.
17 comments:
Illish Macher Paturi looks to be awesome. Great color that has come out of this combination.
Deepa
Hamaree Rasoi
Pree for a version of the banana leaves try your nearest Vietanamese or Chinese market. You get frozen banana leaves and if its new, the colour will be 'fresh'.
Dish looks lovely!
Last week my fishwala had ilish but warned me that it is from Gujarat .. the kind that are available through out the year ... and nowhere near to the original ones. I opted for the pleasure of waiting the whole year to get the seasonal ones during the monsoons. :-)
That paturi in mw looks perfect with that kancha lonka. :-)
Now that looks really, really appetising! I make mustard fish with any fish I get - I cannot tell between fish of different kinds, can only distinguish the size and no. of bones!
Slurp,mouthwatering here...delicious!
do you also courier cooked fish ? :)
Fantastic that you get ilish at Canada. I bought some tied. Fried it for lunch Microwave patoori seems to be a good idea. Wonder if 'patoori' refers to the banana leaf (paata) steamed one while this is bhaapa? Any thoughts. This is a good after office option. Does the curd curdle after 10 min? I normally put it in a tiffin box and then into a pan of boiling water. Learnt about that in the web. Ur method seems simpler and easier
@The Knife, no, the yogurt doesn't curdle. Yogurt or curd curdles when you add it mid-way of cooking when the heat is already high. In this recipe, you add it from the start and it cooks evenly with the rest of the ingredients.
When we did not have microwaves, my Mother used to transfer everything in a steel tiffin box, close lid and pressure cook till one whistle went off.
i have eaten the steel box in pressure cooker version and love it... I have never tried in a microwave - but must be delicious...
Looks great!
i wish i can cook it for my hubby..but me being veggie and not touching fish or meat... :((
lets see..maybe i can direct my cook to prepare it this way!!!
Since I am one of your followers I had noticed this post on Ilish, I was meaning to take time out to read it carefully. So Bengalis in Canada appear to have a better deal than those of us in India. I was happy to read your recipe because now I know how to make this in the microwave. We make this preparation only with mustard paste and do not add poppy seeds and yoghurt.
That looks wonderful Pree!
Been ages......where/how art thou?
Isn't Paturi meant to be wrapped in kaula pata or lau pata? This one seems more like a bhape ilish.
So you find the frozen Ilish to be of better quality than what we get back home?...I have always been wary of picking up the frozen ones in the danforth...
Ilish Paturi does need to be steamed in a banana leaf....the name actually comes from the "pata"
(leaf) :)
This is actually Ilish Bhaape...and a delicious dish it is!
Please scroll back up the post and read! Did I not mention how Paturi is traditionally made? :-)
oooof this is too much. Now I want to say go to hell low carb and need a plateful of gorom bhaat and ilish. what a pity no one in my home eats any of this stuff and I get too lazy to get a 3 lb fish and cook for myself. we do get banana leaves here in mexican stores and even in regular grocery stores sometimes. Other than a timid flavor of the steamed banana leaves i think it wld taste the same.
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