Sorshe ilish recipe

Ingredients

Ilish/Hilsa fish- 7 pieces

Mustard paste- 5 tbsp (you can mix yellow and black mustard seeds in equal proportion. If you want you can use only yellow mustard seeds or black mustard seeds for the paste also.) or cook with ready to use mustard powder (cookme or sunrise) available in the market.

Green chillies- 7-8 (adjust according to your tolerance). Make a paste of green chillies separately if you are using store brought mustard powder.

Turmeric powder- ¾ tsp

Salt

Nigella seeds/Kalojire/Kalonji- ½ tsp

Mustard oil

Method

Keep the mustard seeds on a strainer, wash under running water. Now grind them with green chillies and 1/4 cup water using your food processor until smooth paste forms.

In a bowl add mustard paste, 3 tbsp mustard oil, turmeric powder, salt (as per taste), nigella seeds, green chilli paste (use only if you’re cooking with store brought mustard powder) and 1/2 cup of water. Mix well. In a frying pan (non-stick preferably) add the fish pieces along with the mustard paste mixture. Coat the fish pieces well, just flip them and coat. Add some more water if required (I’ve added 1/4 cup of water at this stage). Drizzle some mustard oil (2 tbsp) on top. Cover and cook over low heat for 15 minutes.

Remove from the heat. Serve hot with steamed rice.

Note:

I use ready to use mustard powder frequently these days. And I didn’t find any difference in taste from the homemade mustard paste.