Ilish Maach'er Paturi

Illish Paturi... Ilish is one of the favorite fish of every bengali and today lets make the most popular Ilish Maach er Paturi. It is a very easy recipe , requires very few ingredients and gets done in almost no time though it might look complicated but trust me its absolutely simple..!!

But before we begin pls note few things about Ilish or Hilsa !!

The hilsa fish is on the brink of extinction because of migration barriers, poppulation and over-fishing. The hilsa that is also known as the Indian Shad migrates to the  Bay of Bengal every monsoon for breeding. This process traditionally sustained the hilsa fishery, but all changed when the fragmentation of the river blocked the migration of the mature fish. The Central Inland Fisheries research Institute (CIFRI) did an assessment of the production trends of hilsa from 1961 to 2013, which showed a significant decline in the annual production from 36 tonnes to 0.9 tonnes.

While initiatives are been taken to save Ilish.. let us do our bit too!! Pls do not buy hilsa or Ilish less than 500 gm. they need to survive the breeding season, June - August and October - December.

Now getting back to the recipe..!!

1. Ingredients: 
   
   
2. Yellow Mustard seeds  - 2 tbspn
   Black Mustard seeds – 1 tbspn
   Poppy seeds – 1 tbspn
   Curd – 2 tbspn
   Mustard Oil – 2 tbspn
   Coconut – 1 tbspn (in the same bowl with green chilies in the pic)
   Green Chillies – 2-3
   Sugar – 1 tbspn
   Salt as per taste
   6 pieces of Ilish Fish
   Apart from this you will also need banana leaf!!
   
   
3. 
   
   
4. Make paste of the soaked mustard seeds (soak them for 2 hours) with 2 green chilly and some salt , this will help the paste from not turning bitter, Once you get a fine apste add the poppy seeds also and again churn the whole thing along the pieces of coconut.
5. Now take the mustard, poppy, coconut and green chilly paste in a bowl, add turmeric, beaten curd, salt and sugar . Combine everything together till the sugar melts.
6. 
   Now add mustard oil in the paste and mix it.
7. 
   Marinate the fish pieces with this paste and let it sit in the mustard poppy coconut paste for 30 minutes.
8. 
   Take the banana leaves and cut them into rectangle pieces, discarding the middle stalk of the leaf. The pices should be big enough to wrap the fish . Before folding the fish in, roast the leaves on hot tawa for 10 seconds pressing with a cloth . This will make sure the leaf does not breaks while folding.
9. Now place the fish with the marinade on the leaf and neatlypack the fish into parcel. Make sure it is nicely wrapped so that the mustard paste doesn't oozes out while cooking. Tie it with a cotton thread.
10. 
    Now take a tawa , heat 1 teaspoon mustard oil and place the fish parcel. Cook them covered on medium to low flame for 5 minutes on each side. The banana leaf might get burn which inturn will give a smoky flavor to the fish.
11. Serve hot with rice.!!
12.