'Netting' some great fish

Some years ago, I ate a piece of fried hilsa – and my world changed.... Oh! Calcutta at International Trade Tower in Nehru Place serves some terrific varieties of fish.

July 31, 2010 06:58 pm | Updated August 07, 2010 07:51 pm IST - NEW DELHI:

Fish was not something that I grew up with – despite the fact that my mother was a Bengali. My childhood was spent in a village in Muzaffarnagar, where fish was as rare as a Khap panchayat (I don't know when these panchayats came up, but they certainly didn't exist then). Later, when I was with my parents, fish did figure in our meals every now and then, but I avoided it, worried about the bones.

Then, as I began eating out, I started developing a taste for fish. I enjoyed the occasional grilled fish or fried fish with tartar sauce, and then zeroed in on rahu cooked with mustard. Hilsa, however, was still on the no-no list, for I was convinced that I wouldn't be able to handle its tiny bones. Then, some years ago, I ate a piece of fried hilsa – and my world changed. I still can't devour it the way my Bengali relatives and friends can and do, but I enjoy the fish, and love to occasionally feast on it.

One such feast happened the other evening. I was invited to a hilsa festival at Oh! Calcutta at International Trade Tower in Nehru Place – and had an excellent dinner there. The great thing about the restaurant, which serves all kinds of Bengali delicacies, is that it experiments a bit with the hilsa every time it hosts a festival. And what's interesting is that even diehard hilsa fans – who think the fish should only be fried, or cooked with mustard or onion seeds and green chillies – enjoy the new ways of cooking. For instance, the hilsa cooked with milk and cheese (dudh ilish – Rs.340) was simply delicious. The sauce had a light taste and colour, and was incredibly smooth.

Spicy touch

The other preparation that caught my fancy was a dish in which the fish had been flavoured with the masala of mango pickle, and then cooked in an edible pumpkin leaf (aam aacharer ilish). The pickle gave the fish a spicy and tart touch, while the leaf had soaked in the flavours of the fish and its masala.

Another entrée was the dhone patar bhapa ilish – in which the fish had been wrapped in a banana leaf, smeared with a paste of coriander leaves and then steamed. I am afraid this dish was overwhelmed by the flavour of the coriander.

I had some other non-hilsa dishes there as well – including an excellent bekti fillet, grilled and served with a sauce prepared with lemon, butter and parsley. This was out of this world. But the festival celebrating the hilsa has a host of other dishes that you can try out – from hilsa cooked with cucumber to coconut milk, or even a mixed vegetable (called chorchori) prepared with a hilsa head.

The old favourites are there as well – hilsa cooked with mustard, with curd or in a simple gravy. And of course, the fried ilish – which is truly a wonderful preparation – was the star of the table. The hilsa dishes all cost Rs.340, barring the smoked hilsa (Rs.550) and the boneless bhapa ilish (Rs.825).

I am glad I discovered the hilsa. Late, no doubt, but as they say, better late than never.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.