Page:Indian Cookery and Confectionery.djvu/96

 HILSA FISH BOILED in RICE.

Hilsa fish must not be washed after cutting it to pieces, it is to be washed after flaking. Rub the pieces of fish with salt, powdered mustard, turmeric, a quantity of mustard oil and a few green chillies cut lengthwise. Wrap them up with banana leaves and boil as before. Tender leaves of gourd or pumpkin may be substituted for banana leaves and may be eaten with fish. It is a delicious curry.

Or, break the stone of a half-ripe cocoa-nut in two and drain off the water. Stuff it with the pieces of fish rubbed with the spices, etc. Join the two parts with flour-paste and heat uniformly on all sides on charcoal fire.

Or, wrap the pieces, after rubbing them with spices, etc., with banana leaves and put the bundle in the middle of a mass of hot boiled rice whose starchy water has just been drained off. Take out after 15 or 20 minutes. The fish may also be boiled in a cooker pan with advantage. Or, put the pieces in a shallow pot after preparing them in the same way. Close it with a lid and place on boiling water. The fish will be boiled within a short time.

DAL with FISH.

Pulses of both grams and moog are prepared with fishes. Big sized shrimps and fishes of the higher classes are used for this purpose. Shrimps are to be prepared keeping the scales on the heads and fried in