East Indian

Shorshe Ilish (Bengali Mustard Hilsa Curry)

Name: Shorshe Ilish (Bengali Mustard Hilsa Curry)
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: East Indian
Ingredients: 1.5 lb hilsa fish; 3 tbsp mustard paste; 3 tbsp mustard oil; 1 tsp mustard seeds; 1/2 tsp nigella seeds; 1/2 tsp ground turmeric; 4 green chilies; 1/2 cup water; 1 tsp salt

Mitali Sen @mitali_sen

Shorshe Ilish (Bengali Mustard Hilsa Curry) is East Indian home cooking, eaten at lunch and dinner. On the plate it is the dish at the centre. Below is what usually sits beside it, what it does and does not contain, and what else to cook once you have made it.

35 min Medium Pescatarian Halal Gluten free Dairy free

Ingredients

Serves

The quantities follow this count.

1.5 lb hilsa fish
3 tbsp mustard paste
3 tbsp mustard oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp nigella seeds
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
4 green chilies
1/2 cup water
1 tsp salt

How to cook it

Rub the hilsa pieces with turmeric and half the salt, and let them sit for 10 minutes.
Whisk the mustard paste with a splash of water, the remaining turmeric and a couple of slit green chilies until smooth.
Heat the mustard oil in a wide, shallow pan until it just begins to smoke, then let it cool for a minute so it does not turn the mustard bitter.
Temper the oil with the mustard seeds and nigella seeds until they crackle.
Pour in the mustard paste, add the water and salt, and bring to a gentle simmer for 3 minutes.
Slide in the hilsa pieces in a single layer, scatter the remaining green chilies over the top, cover and simmer 10 to 12 minutes without stirring, spooning the gravy over the fish once or twice, until the fish is just cooked through.
Serve hot with steamed rice, spooning the mustard gravy generously over each portion.

Serve it with

A East Indian dinner is a plate rather than a single dish. These are the courses that normally sit beside Shorshe Ilish (Bengali Mustard Hilsa Curry), read from the same composition Dinejot builds a real meal from.

The cooked vegetable
- Aloo Bhaja (Bengali Fried Potato Strips)
  
  20 min
The protein alongside
- Arhar Dal (Bihari-Style Toor Dal)
  
  30 min
What it is eaten with
- Bajra Bhakri (Pearl Millet Flatbread)
  
  35 min

A course labelled with another kitchen's name comes from a cuisine in the same family, which is where this plate usually borrows it from.

Safe at your table

Dinejot tracks ten allergens and tags every one of them by hand, so the absences below are as deliberate as the presences. Shorshe Ilish (Bengali Mustard Hilsa Curry) carries fish. It is free of the remaining 9 allergens on that list.

Every tracked allergen in Shorshe Ilish (Bengali Mustard Hilsa Curry)
Allergen	In this dish	Cook this instead
Peanuts	No
Tree nuts	No
Dairy	No
Gluten	No
Shellfish	No
Eggs	No
Soy	No
Fish	Yes	Aloo Posto (Potato in Poppy Seed Paste)
Sesame	No
Coconut	No

These tags are set by a person rather than inferred from an ingredient list, and they describe the recipe as written here. Read the labels on whatever you actually buy.

What it brings to the plate

Estimated, per serving

Calories: 320 kcal
Protein: 24 g
Carbs: 6 g
Fat: 22 g
Fiber: 1 g
Sugar: 1 g
Sodium: 480 mg
Saturated fat: 3 g

Estimated values. Actual nutrition varies with ingredients, brands, and how you cook.

When to cook it

Shorshe Ilish (Bengali Mustard Hilsa Curry) takes about 35 minutes from a cold stove to the table, and the cooking itself is a fair bit of work. It is eaten at lunch and dinner. It is at its best in the monsoon, which is when what goes into it is worth buying.