Doi Ilish and Machha Besara

Ek Phul…Do MaliOne Spice, two Different Fish….bad joke, agreed

But this is really a tale of One Spice, the all famous Mustard and not only two different fish but two very different fish recipes, one from my own state Bengal and the other from the neighboring state Orissa.

Orissa is close to Bengal, not only in miles but also to people’s heart, the main reason being Puri of course, which is not only a place but an integral part of the Bengali culture. Every Bengali director has a tear jerking Bengali movie to his credit, with visuals shot in Puri, every Bengali Writer has characters in their work of fiction who go and visit Puri at least once in the span of the entire book, every newly married Bengali couple had their honeymoon in Puri before Mauritius came into picture. A Maestro like Satyajit Ray too had many of his short stories set in Puri which surely proves something.

I have been to Orissa once (not honeymooning though) and done the usual touristy stuff but to an average Bengali, Puri in Orissa is as close to heart as is Darjeeling. Maybe Puri holds a higher place because it not only has the sea(Bay of Bengal) but also a temple (Jaganatha temple) and who can avoid such a divine combination

In fact you are a true blue Bengali only if you have done the following:

1.You have to love fish. There might be phases in your life where you refused to eat them but you must be in love with your fish for 90% of your lifetime
2. You have to see the sunrise at Tiger Hill, Darjeeling clad in your mittens, scarves, all other woolens that you have accumulated in your life time not forgetting the Monkey Cap with pom-pom (a typical woolen cap that covers your head and face leaving a window for your eyes alone, have seen it only among Bengalis till date)
3. You have to see the sunrise at Puri Beach sans the woolens, finding your place in a beach teeming with million other true Bengalis in their Dhonekhali and Kurta-Pajama
Though I love fish, I absolutely refused to see the sunrise at any of these places. Vacation for me does not mean getting up in the crack of dawn to see a star rise because a planet is rotating. I was duly chastised for my impudent behavior I remember and my parents were forced to go to the beach without me budging an inch.

Though it has been really long and I don’t remember any specific food from that time, I do remember the Mishti Wala (the sweet seller) who would come to the Puri beach with a pole balanced on his shoulder and two huge aluminium pans hanging on the two ends. These aluminium dekchis(deep round pans) had sweets which we used to gorge on every evening sitting on the beach. Again I cannot recall what those sweets were (chanapoda ?) but I remember him going “Dhai Kiri Kiri” as he rushed catering delicious sweets to his sweet loving customers.

I think “Dhai Kiri Kiri” meant “move fast” or some such thing, but it has been a favorite adopted term in our house since and we use the term often.

While looking for an Oriya recipe I found that there is a lot of similarity between Bengali and Oriya cuisines. I wanted to try an Oriya dish which is not typical of Bengali cuisine yet had a bond with it. So I had to choose something which had...you guessed it right...Mustard.

Now the first recipe of Doi Ilish today is the Bengali one with Hilsa in a Yogurt based Mustard Sauce. Hilsa or Ilish Mach is such a great tasting fish that cook it any way you want it will taste nothing but great. I got this recipe from my Bengali Recipe book. I added more mustard paste than the recipe called for but I am putting up the recipes as in the book. Also since I get frozen Hilsa here I fried the fish lightly. The original recipe does not ask for fish to be fried.

And then I came across Machha Besara, an Oriya dish of fish in mustard sauce. What interested me was the recipe had asked for mustard to be ground with garlic and green chillies to make a paste. Now in a Bengali recipe, mustard paste or shorshe bata is a wet paste of mustard with green chillies and no one can even imagine adding garlic to the paste.
Second was the use of potatoes in a mustard paste based fish dish, another thing very different from a Bengali Recipe.
I decided to give it a try and was pleasantly thrilled and even D (not a fishy bong) liked it. I used Tilapia (fresh Tilapia cut in steak size pieces) for this dish and I would implore all Bengalis to try Machha Besaara at least once, it would be a very different albeit beautiful mustard experience.

Machha Besara is my contribution to RCI-Oriya hosted by Swapna of Swad and created by Lakshmi of Veggie Cuisine



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Doi Ilish

What You Need
Hilsa/Ilish ~ 2 lb of fish cut in Bengali style pieces. (Yes this what you need to say outside of bengal else you can also get it cut in steak pieces) Usually a small Hilsa weighs around 2 lbs.

This recipe is for 5 pieces of Hilsa or Ilish


Mustard paste

To make Mustard Paste soak 2 Tbsp of mustard seeds in water for an hour.
In a wet spice grinder or Magic bullet, strain and add the mustard seeds + 2 Green Chilies
With a few splashes of water make a thick mustard paste.

Thick Yogurt ~ 1/2 Cup

Green Chillies ~ 4 or more
Kalo Jeera/Kalonji/Nigella Seeds(for tempering) ~ 1/4 tsp loosely packed


Turmeric powder ~ 1 tsp
Salt
Mustard Oil ~ preferred for a fish like Hilsa


How It is Done

Wash the fish well, pat dry and rub the pieces with about ½ tsp of turmeric powder a little salt and keep aside

Heat oil in a Kadhai/Deep Frying Pan/Wok. When the oil is piping hot reduce the heat and slowly slide the fish pieces into the oil. There is going to be a lot of sputtering so be careful. The fish pieces should not be on top of each other, they should remain side by side in the hot oil. So do not add all fish at the same time. Once you have slid the fishes, raise the heat

Once the fish is fried to a light golden yellow (with hilsa very little frying is needed, be careful that the fish does not get fried too much) take it out and drain on a paper towel

In a bowl beat the yogurt well and then mix in the mustard paste. Add 1/2 tsp of Turmeric powder and mix.

Discard the fishy oil if you wish and heat some fresh oil. With hilsa however the mustard oil in which the fish is fried holds a special value for most Bengalis and we dare not throw it out.

Heat oil now, for tempering. Temper with kalonji and green chilies and wait for the spices to pop.

Lower the heat and the yogurt-mustard sauce.

Add salt and let it simmer for a couple of minutes. Add the fish pieces.

Then add water(about 1 cup) and let the gravy simmer and reduce to desired consistency

Cook till you get a gravy of the right thickness, not watery mind you, add a little mustard oil on top and serve with white rice

Machha Besara

Recipe adapted from OriyaKitchen

What You Need

Rohu (or other fresh water fish) ~ 1 cut into pieces. I used fresh Tilapia cut into steak size peices
Potato ~ 1 , peeled and chopped in longitudinal pieces
Yogurt/Curd ~ 1/2 cup
Green chilies ~ 5/6 slit
Mustard-Garlic paste ~ Soak 2 tbsp of mustard in water for 15 mins. Then make a paste with juice of 1/2 lemon, 2 green chilies and 2 cloves of garlic.
Turmeric Powder ~ 1 tsp loosely packed

Panch Phutana/Panch Phoron ~ ¾ tsp loosely packed
Mustard Oil or any other oil
Salt

How It Is Done

Prep

Wash the fish well, pat dry and mix it with about ½ tsp of turmeric powder a little salt and keep aside
Grind the mustard ,3 green chilies & garlic along with the yogurt to make a mustard paste
Then peel the potato & cut in to any shape you like . I chopped in longitudinal pieces

Cook

Heat Mustard oil in a Kadhai. When the oil is piping hot reduce the heat and slowly slide the fish pieces into the oil. There is going to be a lot of sputtering so be careful. The fish pieces should not be on top of the other, they should remain side by side in the hot oil. So do not add all fish at the same time. Once you have slid the fishes, raise the heat
Once the fish is fried to a golden yellow take it out and drain on a paper towel
Again add some more oil in the heated pan & add pancha phutan & green chilies.
When it starts crackling add the sliced potato & fry for 2 mins
Add the mustard paste, turmeric and salt. Let it simmer for 10 minutes. Add 1 cup of water for the gravy and let it simmer. Add little sugar to taste.
Add fried fish in to the curry & again cook it for 2 more mins
Garnish with fresh coriander leaves
Serve hot with plain rice


Trivia: The Hilsa or Ilish as we call it is kind of a National fish for Bengal & Bengalis (can there be such a thing ?).The river Padma in Bangladesh and the Ganges in India are the prime source of this fish. Every part of the Hilsa from the Roe to the delicate flesh is exquisite in taste and flavor. With its fine bones it might be a tad difficult to eat for someone who is not used to such delicacies though

On Independence Day

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free



Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth



Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit



Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action
--Into that heaven of freedom, my father, let my country awake.

-- Rabindranath Tagore, Gitanjali

Update: Photos taken by me at the beach at Spring Lake, NJ. My camera Canon SD750 Digital Elph. And yes that is indeed lil' S :)

And now comes the award, no not the Bharat Ratna Award silly, the Rocking Award.

Sra passed me this and I first thought may be she meant my blog had hit rock bottom and so she wanted to throw rocks at me. But the logo looked nice in pink & had a star, now anything in pink can't be bad, can it ? Also Sra is one of the few early bloggers whom I bonded with over comment space and I have seen her go from greenish-yellow to pristine white, I know "When" her soup came alive, I know that she is a conscious and innovative foodie and that she rocks, if she is passing on something it's got to be good.



Thanks to her and passing this on to some of the more rocking bloggers who haven't been rocked yet (or have they ? and is there a rule of passing ?)

Anh of Food Lovers Journey
Indosungod of DailyMusings
Inji of Ginger & Mango
Jyothsna of Currybazaar
Mystic of ChatpatFood
Mandira of Ahaar
Padma of Padma's Kitchen
Pragyan of Cooking at Pragyan's
SJ of A Pinch Of Spice
Seema of Recipe Junction
Sher of What Did You Eat
Shilpa of Aayis Recipes
Vani of Mysoorean
Swapna of Tastes from My Kitchen
Susan of The Well Seasoned Cook

and two non-foodie rocking girls

Anamika of Thinking Cramps
Moi of Not By a Long Shot

There are more but I am not sure if I am allowed to tag the entire blogosphere, so I better stop

Daliya Pulao in 30 minutes

I saw my blog mentioned at the CHOW. It was funny as I never thought of the "other bong" and also made me proud. Thank you all for having me here, your words make my day and Thanks Kara for finding me. Thanks to Mandira too and she knows for what !!!

I got to tell you this, grumble as you might of mixing up little S in my recipes and stopping only from eating her as a sidekick (ahem side dish) to my recipes.

Now as you all know “Reading” is sold highly as a virtue and all that among kids and so like all good mothers I started the routine too. But more than reading to her I would make up stories and tell her, even change the story in hand if the situation so demanded.

As she learns to read small words I try to induce her to read books herself.Reading by itself opens up a whole new world as it did for me when I was a 5 year old. I still remember the Red hard bound "Everyday Stories" by Enid Blyton which Baba got me once I started reading english and thus had me hooked for ever. That and the Bengali Kids magazine Anandamela which I used to get every month showed me a way to a world of everlasting enchantment.

So that S gets a hang of reading, we got her the “Dr.Seuss” which is brilliant if you think ease of reading but not really interesting when seen through the eyes of a 3 year old or her X year old Mom. So “Hop on Pop” does rhyme and also can be read but then what….nothing really happens…no story is spun…and so the 3 year old girl and the X year olds interest wane.

The 3 year old however seems to be more interested in picking up a book and spinning her own story. She does not really read the lines, but makes up a story on her own through the pictures and that enchants her.

In all this she got hold of a thick pink Disney Princess Story Book Collection. This was a hand me down from a friend’s older daughter and I had slipped it away at the bottom of the chest which holds her books. Why did I do that? Because what if she asked questions like this I thought.

“Why did Cinderella have a step mother?” – because her own mother is dead and gone…tell that and hear her wail…. Can’t be done
“Why is the step mother angry?” -- because she loves her own daughters more and does not love Cinderella… more wailing…. Can’t be done
“Why does the prince want to kiss Cinderella?” --- because she is very beautiful and also very good….Yikes.

I figured once she can read on her own, she could do it. I am a psyched mother I tell you.

Anyhow this little girl of mine found the glossy pink Disney Book one day and enamored by its prettiness strutted away with it before I could say NO.
So I asked her read to me instead and this is what she came up with in the sing song voice a 3 year old usually has. Mind you S is perfect in her Bengali but her English is far from so and it’s really funny to hear.

“Cinderella”… she started off, making up the story from the pictures in the pages.
“Once upon the Time, Cinderella is very busy. She do all her work. She want to go to dance party so her mom scold her. Then her Grandma (the fairy Godmother in the book) gave her “sparkly-sprinkly” dress and a star clip.

In the party she see her Daddy. Her Daddy say, Now we have to go home, Tomorrow is school.

Cinderella break her shoe so her Daddy buy her new shoe.
She is very happy and tells Thank You Daddy and so Daddy kiss her”

I wanted to roll on the floor laughing but obviously I had to show great interest and be sober so that is what Cinderella's story is for me now on.

With such a 3 year old wrapped around my leg most of the time that I am home, I never get to finish my cooking in express time. I cook in bits and pieces, doing hazaar things in between. So maybe I will come home and put the Dal in the cooker, and then I will sit and paint with S and so though the Dal could have been ideally done in 20 minutes flat, I get back to do it only after an hour maybe.

However to make things go faster I also do a lot of chopping etc. over the weekend or whenever I get time to ease the weekday. I usually have a cup of coarsely chopped onion, some fresh onion paste, and some chopped ginger & garlic in the refrigerator for impromptu weekday meals. If I am planning to make fish, I usually fry the fish pieces (we Bengalis fry the fish and then put them in the gravy) and then use them in a day or two in different gravies.

Yesterday I was determined to time my cooking though for Mallugirl's Summer Express Cooking and asked D to entertain S while I just cooked. It was a very simple thing I made, simple but healthy, Daliya Pualo. My Ma makes this pretty often to pack as lunch, I do both for lunch and quick dinners.

Daliya is Cracked Wheat that you can find in Indian stores. It is not same as bulghur but you can use bulghur too.

Bulghur ~ Partially hulled whole wheat kernels that are soaked, then steamed (hence pre-cooked if you will), dried and then crushed are called bulghur
Daliya or Cracked Wheat ~ Raw whole wheat berries that are crushed to varying qualities of texture are called cracked wheat


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Daliya Pulao

What I already had

Onion Paste ~ Red Onion ground to a coarse paste
Ground Chicken ~ I had some ground chicken which I had marinated with a little yogurt, ginger paste, cumin & coriander powder. I often do this with ground chicken, it stays well for couple of days and can be used to make quick kabobs or to be added to pasta or stuffing for wrap or sandwiches
Pureed Tomato ~ remember the cherry tomatoes from my garden, well there were more so I pureed them and stored

Note: You can skip the ground chicken or substitute with scrambled eggs, soy granules, crumbled panner

And The Time Starts Now...

6:07

Wash 1 cup of Daliya and put it in pressure cooker with almost twice the amount of water, a little oil and 2 elaichi/cardamom


6:10

Heat a small Frying Pan
Add Olive Oil
Add onion paste about 1 tbsp
Once it starts browning add the minced chicken, maybe ¾ cup of it, add salt and cook

6:12

While the chicken & Daliya is cooking chop the veggies
Chop long hot peppers, I chopped 2-3
I had a quarter of a cauliflower, I chopped the florets into small pieces. Smaller means will cook fast
I also thawed about ½ cup of frozen peas.
I chopped half a cucumber to make a raita
While chopping, remember to stir the chicken too.
Note: use your choice of veggies here


6:20

Heat a Kadhai
Add Olive Oil
Add 2-3 Bay Leaves, 4 cloves/laung, 4 elaichi/cardamom (all whole)
Add about 1 & ½ tbsp of onion paste and fry with 1/2 tsp of sugar
Meanwhile the ground chicken will be done and the Daliya too.

Add the chopped veggies, 1 tbsp of pureed tomato, sauté a little and cover and cook. Since I used fresh veggies this took a little while to get done

6:30

The veggies should be done by now.
Add the cooked ground chicken and mix well. Throw in some golden raisins. Add salt.
Now is the time to add the Daliya. If the pressure lid refuses to budge, put it under running cold water, this will release the steam.
If the Daliya has excess water, drain
Add the Daliya to the Kadai gradually and then mix well.
Add salt, a little sugar if you wish and stir till the Daliya is dry and has mixed well with the veggies

6:35

Quickly make a raita with yogurt and some cucumber
Everything done in 29 minutes and now you have one minute to reflect on what Douglas Adams said "Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so"




Trivia:Because cracked wheat is made from whole wheat berries, it carries a great deal of nutrition and fiber since it includes the fiber and nutrient rich outer bran and germ of the wheat.