Bangladesh / Main
Shorshe ilish
Hilsa in a ground mustard sauce, cooked by steaming. The great fish of Bengal.
Ingredients
- Hilsa or herring, in steaks800 g
- Mustard seeds, yellow and black in equal parts60 g
- Green chillies6
- Turmeric2 tsp
- Mustard oil80 ml
- Nigella seeds1 tsp
- Rice, to serve400 g
- Saltto taste
Quantities are auto-calculated from the original recipe as a guide. Items without numbers (e.g. “to taste”) are not changed.
Method 7 steps
Soak the mustard seeds in warm water for twenty minutes.
Grind them with two chillies, a pinch of salt and a little water into a smooth paste.
Rub the fish steaks with turmeric and salt and leave them ten minutes.
Heat the mustard oil until it smokes, take it off and let it cool a minute; raw mustard oil is acrid.
Add the nigella, pour in the mustard paste let down with half a cup of water, and cook three minutes.
Lay the fish in a single layer, add the remaining chillies whole, cover and stew twelve minutes.
Finish with a spoon of raw mustard oil, take it off the heat and serve with rice.
