Recipe: At Home Bhapa ilish

Recipe: At Home Bhapa ilish Delicious, fresh and tasty.

Bhapa ilish. "Bhapa Ilish" means Steamed Hilsa where "Bhapa" depicts for Steaming. Traditionally Bong ladies used to steam their Hilsa in a "Stainless Steel Tiffin Box" while making the rice in a Handi (Ha-n-ri). That actually is the ideal process of making Bhapa Ilish.

Even though it looks very polished, it is a fairly easy recipe to execute, requiring few ingredients, no special technique, and very little time.

Ilish or Hilsa is a seasonal fish.

The fish is mostly available during the monsoons and that too in very limited quantities.

You can have Bhapa ilish using 7 ingredients and 4 steps. Here is how you achieve it.

Ingredients of Bhapa ilish

1. Prepare 4 of hilsa fish,large/ medium steaks.

2. Prepare 4 tbsp of mustard seeds.

3. It’s 2 tbsp of curd.

4. It’s to taste of Salt.

5. Prepare 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric powder.

6. Prepare 2-3 of green chilli.

7. Prepare 3 tbsp of mustard oil.

That explains why it is so expensive.

Like everything, hilsa too has it's favorites.

Ask any Bengali about the best hilsa in India, and he or she will point you towards Bangladesh.

How to make Bhapa Ilish Recipe (Steamed Hilsa) To begin making the Bhapa Ilish recipe, wash and tap dry the steaks of hilsa with a kitchen towel and set aside.

Bhapa ilish step by step

1. First just clean the hilsa fish steaks and marinate it with turmeric and salt..and keep it aside for 10 minutes. If you want you can slightly fry the hilsa fish also its completely your choice..

2. Now take a blender, add mustard seeds,chillis,salt and water in a blender jar and blend it till it smooth..

3. Now transfer the mixture in a big stainless steel bowl with a cover or lid..Now in the mixture add turmeric powder,curd and mustard oil and mix well.now add the hilsa pieces in it and coat with the mustard and curd paste..slit some green chilli and put it..close the lid..

4. Now take a big saucepan like utensil with a lid or you can take a pressure cooker also now add 2 to 3 cups of water and place the bowl in it and close the lid.cook it for 20 to 25 mins in medium flame. If you aur using pressure cooker, give 2 whistles.now switch off the flame…

Blend until the paste is smooth.

Bhapa ilish can be prepared in different ways.

The age old practice is to wrap the fish inside the gourd leaves or banana leaves, and the neatly tied packets will be then left inside the huge pots of freshly steamed cooked rice with steams trapped inside.

And that's how my grandma used to make the ilish bhape.

Today we will learn famous traditional Bengali fish recipe Ilish Bhapa or Bhapa Ilish.