The monsoon is the season for enjoying hilsa, and when the fish is rubbed by hand with spices and slowly cooked as a bhuna, the flavour becomes even richer. There is no need for many spices or complicated cooking.

Fresh hilsa, a few common spices and the right technique are all it takes to make a delicious hand-mixed hilsa bhuna, a dish you will want again and again once you have eaten it with rice. Here is the easy recipe.

First, in a bowl, mix together chopped onion, onion paste, salt, turmeric powder, dried chilli powder, crushed green chillies and enough mustard oil. Then gently rub the hilsa pieces with this spice mixture by hand.

Pour the whole mixture into a pan and put it on a medium flame. Do not fry the hilsa for long, as the fish can turn hard. After turning it gently for one to two minutes, add a little water, lower the heat, cover and cook until the onions are soft and fried and the fish is fully cooked.

Stir the onions once during cooking and carefully turn the fish pieces. When the water has completely dried up, take the pan off the heat and serve. The whole dish usually takes 7 to 10 minutes. It is best not to add any extra spices, so that the natural taste and aroma of the hilsa stay intact.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.