Bon(g) Aahar

I remember this one time, my Chotokaka (uncle) had packed beautiful pieces of the fish in an ice box for me to bring down to Pune as he was not convinced I would get anything of that sort here. I belong to a small town called Chandannagar, not very far from Kolkata. Carrying my luggage, my heavy heart, the Ilish along with recipes I landed here. My tryst with Ilish began since.  No, I don't bring Ilish from Chandannagar any more,  obviously because I found my Macher Dokan(fish shop) where I can converse in Bengali and check for fresh gills and fish eggs before making the buy for the day.  I've turned out to be an experimentalist since that first time. Trying to churn out something of my own, adding and deleting from the existing pages. My take on Baked Hilsa is one such experiment which turned out pretty well and would make me wanna flaunt to my guests. Hope you like what you read (and see) Let's get baking... What we need: 4 pieces of Ilish cut with lov...

Memories of Muri Ghonto date back to my  school summer vacations. We used to visit our maternal grandparents in this small town in Bihar, Purnea. My Nini(dida/granny) used to make the most delicious Ghonto which I used to gorge on guilt free for lunch and the leftovers for breakfast or any time of the day which suited me. When I got back home I always complained Ma of not being up to the mark with her Muri Ghonto skills. Those who are clueless as to what I'm referring as Muri Ghonto, apart from being my personal favorite, "Muri" is fish head and "ghonto" is a mixture. It's a delicacy with rice and the right spices and obviously Fish head (bengalis savor every part of fish). What we need : 2-3 fish head Turmeric Whole garam masala (2 cloves, 2 sticks of cinnamon, 2-3 green cardamom, 1 black cardamom, 3-4 whole pepper, 1 bay leaf) Shahi Zeera (you can replace with Zeera) Powdered garam masala Ambemohar Rice soaked in water with 1 teaspoon ...