The rainy season means hilsa everywhere in the markets, where it now costs Tk 1,000-2,000 a kg. Every hilsa dish is a special pleasure: fried hilsa is delicious, its thin curry makes your mouth water, and steamed hilsa makes a great lunch.

But when people eat hilsa, the tail is often neglected. Many do not want the tail piece because it has so many bones. They can make hilsa tail bharta (mash) instead, a dish many people crowd to Mawa Ghat to eat.

• hilsa tails, 4
• salt to taste
• chilli powder, 1 teaspoon
• turmeric powder, 1 teaspoon
• mustard oil, 7-8 tablespoons
• chopped onion, half a cup
• whole dried chillies, 7-8
• chopped green chillies, 2
• lemon juice, 1 tablespoon

Rub the hilsa tails with salt, turmeric and chilli powder and fry them until very crisp. Frying them very crisp makes it easier to remove the bones. Now crush the fried fish on a grinding stone (shil-pata) and pick out the bones.

Fry the dried chillies and onion in the oil used for the fish and set them aside. Mix the fish well with mustard oil, salt, green chillies, chopped onion, the dried chillies and a little lemon juice. Hilsa tail bharta goes perfectly with hot rice.

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