The Hilsa Dinner!

Ilish Bhaja and Tel(Hilsa Fry and Oil)

Kalo Jeera Kacha Lanka Diye Ilish

I termed this a "Forbidden Dinnner".For the calorie conscious(who I prefer to call the faint hearted) ones you may skip this post all together.But such is the flavour of the good things in life that once,at least once, it feels like to break all the rules and have a hearty wholesome dinner.Whats written in this post is not a recipe, but the description of a meal.A meal that eats,breaths and sleeps Hilsa.

I had returned home from office and it was around 9 in the evening.The cook had given the day a miss and I was all by myself.Not that it was something to complain about, but it was just that after a 12 hour office day it definitely feels tiring.Freshened up and looked into the refrigerator - there were 4 pieces of the Hilsa which I had bought a couple of days back.And decided at that instant that its going to be:Ilish er tel(Oil of Hilsa),Ilish Bhaja(Hilsa fry) and KaloJeereKacha Lanka Hilsa(a menu which I posted sometime back on this blog).

The Hilsa fry for a couple of pieces wont require more than 6-8 mins.The Hilsa oil will be a byproduct of the frying and the KalojeeraKachaLanka Hilsa should be done in 20-25 mins.

During the hostel days,I remember,we hardly used to have Hilsa.In hostels Hilsa was a real classy dish and as always expensive.So when I used to go home, the first things that I used to tell my parents was to buy some good Hilsas and Boroli(a fish available in the waters of the Teesta river) and plain musur dal and alu bhaja(potato fries).The Hilsa dinner day reminds me of just those days excepting that Dal and alu bhaja wasn't prepared today.

For the Hilsa fry, coat the Hilsa with turmeric powder and salt to taste. In one table spoon of mustard oil, which when hot, add the Hilsa piece.In the photo which you see here, the Hilsa released so much of oil during frying that no further amount of oil was required to fry the other pieces.When the frying of all the pieces are complete, I removed the oil from the Hilsa and set aside it a container.Later the Jhol was prepared.

Ahh and heavenly did it taste.The rice was perfect and steamed.A bite of green chillies along with the Hilsa oil and a fried Hilsa.And later the light jhol.A perfectly sinful and tasty dinner breathing flavours all along indeed.Not to mention costly!

Thanks for reading!
Good Night.