CURRY AND SPICE: BHAAT ER BHAPE MOSHOLA ILISH

Where should I start from? 1977, January 23rd... RG Kar Medical College, Kolkata! ... As the dusk had set in, there was a little bundle of joy on my lap... Early morning, I was crying not being able to see my mother anywhere, that is when thy neighbours told she was in the hospital. Every year I write this on this day perhaps. In those days, our neighbours were like an extended family! Yes, we did sit together and peeled oranges, our backs soaking in the sun. Any middle class Bengali will speak the same... unless you are a show off like few of my school classmates... who raved about Liz Taylor but did not watch Suchitra Sen's "Hospital" or that epitome of grace Arundhati Devi's "Bicharak" or found reading Bibhutibhushan a waste of time! However, I also count "2 plus 2 ijikaltu chikch" but I had to watch Bicharak quite a few times to understand it! "May be science & reasoning got you to be friends.... else you would have been my friend... girl... haha!" Where was I? Ok, be it a brother or a sister... a sibling brings out the best in you.... both are prized possessions, the reason why I find it unnecessary to showcase our son or the brother or even the husband in public every now and then. Off course, I like to stay put with those people who have the same layers of emotions & experience working when life of a Bengali middle-class of the 80's-90's comes. "roddurey pith diye charaponar jhol diye bhaat athaba shiter bhorey haritey korey khejurer roshwalar haak diye jaoar amejta amrai tuley dhorbo apnader kachey"....

There will be people like my brother who have experienced all of these but has no interest in preserving or living through a culture... some speak such an abbreviated English which I find too annoying.... English is after all the Queen's language! Anyway, I stay put with the Bengali Cultural Bigwigs just to get the essence of my own land.... an Anindya Chaterjee's "choshma" too has caught my fancy... not surprising for a woman who forgets to eat in time while reading Ganguly's "Pratham Alo" or "Shei Shomoy"... Just that I have started speaking about all these years later, it may sound imitative to many readers. On my short stays in Kolkata, I do not get to savour 1/10th of it... like having "shorbot at Kapila Ashram" or walking through the alleys of Burrabazaar to have a masala tea from those giant brass kettles. I do not even get inside "Ananda" or "Dey's".... these were our heaven. Ananda, at Jhamapukur Lane is just another 4-5 minutes of walk from the Indian Coffee House towards the University Institute Hall may be... I know if I am at Ananda, I will be spoilt for choice and have to leave a full suitcase of them at the airport! You know crossing the airport is necessary, else you may not get to have appe... A true heart Bengali in Kolkata hardly will care for the health benefits of having an appe pan.

Yesterday, I visited the veteran Hindi teacher Chitra Gupta Maam who treated me with semolina appe and masala tea .... its for her that our son could get through that horrifying subject in his 10th boards! .... the Southern Indians and a majority of Bengalis are terrible in Hindi, so I prepared a dalia-yogurt appe this morning ... haha! I was waiting to get something for her from Kolkata... "guru dakshina".... is important. However, Bengal has to rule today with BHAAT ER BHAPE MOSHOLA ILISH.

This day can be called a Family Day... the brother has his birthday and the husband's sister has their marriage anniversary. I will call both of them after I am done with the post. Their big brother T hardly believes in any ritual... regular calls being one! He thinks S will manage this part well. Why such a weird name BHAAT ER BHAPE MOSHOLA ILISH and not Ilish Polao or Ilish Biryani? I went through a couple of similar posts, yet could not accept using ghee, cashews & raisins in ilish / hilsa fish. I have to first taste it in other homes to know if my tongue can survive through it or not.... off course a piece of 'ilish maach' is that precious. I went through a couple of hilsa polao or biryani recipes for months until I decided to get it simpler for myself and my readers. I did it in 'dum' method but that is not what should be called a biryani or polao. I incorporated everything associated with West Bengal's notion of hilsa and the usual spices used in it! Very few ingredients had been used to cook this dish... few pieces of ilish which should not be too stale, dry red chillies, green chillies, cumin-coriander-red chilli powders, turmeric, kalonji, ginger paste and salt too ... haha! The fresh corianders and the raita are unusual additions to an hilsa but they have added a new dimension to the fish & rice dish... the coriander leaves made it yet more flavour burst, while I found it incomplete without spoonfuls of Raita.

INGREDIENTS :

Hilsa / Ilish : 5-6 pieces
Basmati Rice : 1coffee mug
Ginger Paste : 2tbsp
Cumin Powder : 2tsp
Coriander Powder : 1tsp
Red Chilli Powder : 1tsp + 1/2tsp
Turmeric Powder : 1tsp + 1/2tsp
Salt : As Required
Chopped Fresh Coriander : 1small tea cup
Slitted Green Chilli : 4-5
Dry Red Chilli : 3-4
Nigella Seed : 1/2tsp
Lemon Juice : 2tbsp
Refined Flour : 2tbsp
Oil : 5-6tbsp[I used Mustard]

PROCEDURE :

Let us prepare the rice first. Do it in a vessel as most of the Indian homes do. Boil it adding some salt to it until when 60% is done. Strain through a colander and let all of the water drain.

Prepare a spice paste adding the cumin & coriander powders, 1tsp each of the turmeric & red chilli powders, salt as required. Add little water for a smooth paste. However, freshly made spice paste will give a better flavour, I am a lazy cook but.

Marinate the fish pieces with the refined flour, lemon juice, 1/2 tsp each of turmeric & red chilli powders, salt! Keep aside for 1/2 an hour.

Wash an keep the fresh corianders ready to be used.

Heat oil in a vessel or wide wok. Fry the fish pieces lightly, take out on a plate and reserve.

Temper the remaining oil with the nigella seeds / kalonji and the dry red chillies. Stir at low heat for 1/2 a minute.

Add the spice paste and stir at low heat for 2 minutes until the spice paste separates from the oil.

Take out and reserve on a bowl.

Add some rice in the same wok, add 1tsp of the cooked spice mixture and lightly mix. Place few pieces of the lightly fried fish atop and add a little of the cooked spice mixture, fresh coriander, slitted green chillies on them.