Steamed Hilsa a.k.a Ilish Bhapa

With the first rain drop of the season, the thing that comes to the mind of all Bengalis is Ilish. Being a bengali I think--

'Duh! Why haven't I posted it before, I have cooked it a million times and yet I hadn't'...Silly me! But it's better to be late than never...So the fish which is so famous that it's the national fish of Bangladesh is here cooked traditionally to get your mouth drooling.... I hope you enjoy it..

Ingredients:

Hilsa fish 5-6 pieces washed well.

Mustard Paste(Shorshe bata) 2 1/2 tablespoon.

Poppy seed paste (posto bata) 2 tablespoon.

Yoghurt (Doi) 2 tablespoon. 

Mustard oil (Shorsher tel) 4 tablespoon. 

Turmeric powder ( holud guro) 1/4 teaspoon. 

Green chilies 4-5 slit.

Salt to taste.

Water as required. 

Method:

First make a paste with mustard seeds, poppy seeds, 2 green chilies, yoghurt, turmeric powder, salt and add water as required. Do not add too much water or it will go runny, just enough to make a smooth paste.

Marinade the fish with the paste and let it rest for 5-10 mins.

Now,in a steel round tiffin box add the fish and cover it with the paste all over properly.

Add a generous amount of mustard oil and rest of the slit green chilies. 

Seal it with the cover.

Now, on a big skillet place a ring and place the tiffin box over it.Add hot water from the sides upto touching half of the sides of the tiffin box.

Turn on the heat and let it cook for 30 mins.

Once done, take it off the heat and serve it with hot plain white rice.

It's simple and 'minimal utensil recipe' as I like to call it...Tempting, isn't it? 

Sweet Betel leaves flavored Ras Malai

When summer knocks at our door what's better than a cool drink with tulsi seeds,like falooda or paan gulkand drink.I had posted a Ras Malai recipe sometime back if you all remember,it was flavored with pumpkin but this time its flavored with sweet betel leaves or better known as "MISTI PAAN". It sounds interesting isn't it? And it tastes even better. So without further ado let's see what the recipe is.....

Ingredients:


9 pieces rasgulla (pre-made,from the market.You can find it in cans too).

1/2 liter milk.

1/4 cup condensed milk.

1 market made sweet betel leaf or misti paan (generally consists of cherries,hint of mint,cardamom,fennel seeds,rose powder,gulkand but no chuna or even khoir).

Sugar to taste
.
Method:
Grind the misti paan in a blender.

Boil milk and condensed milk in a pan and add the paan mix and stir blending everything together.

Take it off the stove and strain it (*tip: I tried it for the first time so you will notice that I haven't strained,but I would suggest do strain it as it will bring smoothness and hint of flavor to it without the leaves every time disturbing your taste buds)

Now add the pre-made rasgullas and let it soak.

Serve when it cools down.

Try it and do let me know...Enjoy!