Swish Fish

Ever since the ilish graduated from being a Bengali culinary elite to a national fixation of sorts,it courted a robust makeover,that hitherto only a certain Miss Shetty’s nose could claim comparison to. So what it lost it legacy of biased,self-important bones only a Bengali knew how to confront,it also outlived the monsoons to find itself under the spotlight throughout the year. Then,when you end up at a Hilsa festival,even as the sun scorches the senses off your head and the met department gives the civic body a run for its popularity,you cease to be skeptical or excited even. “It’s like eating an Easter egg in Durga Puja. Chocolate is not restricted to a timeline,but it becomes more of an activity than an experience in this case,” says Somnath Paul,an employee of an IT company in the city.

So,how did the regal Hilsa trip on the red carpet on its way to the global hall of fame? “It’s a mistake to say that the fish has lost its hierarchical eminence in our cuisine. But when you start getting ilish like you get chowmein,even the most committed foodie loses a bit of his enthusiasm,” says Sreya Basu,a copywriter with a city-based ad firm. But the likes of Subrata Ghose Chaudhuri,director of Tero Parbon,a south Kolkata based Bengali specialty restaurant,are not to be discouraged by the parochial Bong who would prefer his ‘ilish’ mothballed and saved up like his ‘biyer dhoti’,instead of letting any ‘non-Bengali’ ill befall it. “We usually have eight to ten ilish dishes on our menu throughout the year. But for out Ilish Parbon (Hilsa Festival) we have around twenty eight ilish dishes,” says Ghose Chaudhuri. So,while you have the usual-suspects-cum favourites like ilish paturi,and ilish bhapa,the festival at Tero Parbon is all set to spring quite a few surprises. Like the Gota Boneless Ilish (yes,you heard right),the Mukhi Kachu Ilish,and the Ilish Posto. “The ilish posto is cooked by boiling the ilish with the regular alu posto,” says Chaudhuri. The restaurant also has introduced the Hara Gouri Ilish where a whole fish is cooked half in a red onion-garlic gravy and half in a coriander gravy.

And for those still trying grudging the fish for libertine indulgences that have led to incongruities like ilish biryani,let’s consider this. On a sweltering afternoon,what makes a plateful of hot khichudi sound ‘special’ and not suicidal? An ilish bhaja.