HILSA; THE KING OF FISH
It's monsoon... raining.... It's the time to taste the flavour of Hilsha or Ilish. Bengali's are well-known for their fondness of fishes, as well as, for sweets. Supported by mother river Ganges, along with other different sized water bodies and even with a little coastal area, fish of different varieties, is a round-the-year availability. a large number of fish comes here from other parts of the country also, namely, Odissa, Hyderabad, Chennai and even from the neighboring country, Bangladesh. Yes. Bangladesh! And when it comes to Bangladesh, the fish should be no doubt ‘Hilsa’, or, ‘Ilish’. Bengali fish-lovers consider hilsa as the ‘King of Fish’.
Hilsa is mainly a marine fish, but, unlike others, it spends its major life-time in sweet water and bay area. The normal grown/ adult fishes are 20 – 22 inches long and about 3 kgs in weight. It has scales with a notch of gold, which gives it a majestic silver appearance. Hilsa is an oily flat fish and has more or less very sharp and tough bones, throughout its body. Due to this reason, most of the people find it difficult to enjoy this delicacy.
Preparing hilsa in different styles is a century-old tradition. Bangladeshis can cook hilsa in numerous ways. Starting from simple frying to smoking, some of the popular and authentic dishes are – iIish Begun, bhapa iIish, doi iIish, iIish Tok-Jhal, shorshe-bata ilish, narkel-bata iIish, iIisher dom chochchori, ilish paturi, nona iIish macher jhol etc. Special one is ilish biriyani.....
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