Moong Ilishe - Lentil soup made with green gram and Hilsa fish head

Hello Friends!
How are you? I am getting used to with this blogging slowly. And now I am loving it. Hope you guys love my blog as well. I love to recreate some family recipes. Speaking of the family recipes, two sides of my family have some differences in terms of food cultures. My side is Ghoti and my in laws are Bangal. If you are from Bengal, you are familiar with these terms. For those who don't know, the people whose ancestry originated from east Bengal (now Bangladesh) are called Bangal. The people whose families are living in West Bengal for generations, are called Ghoti. Both used to have their own unique accent, cooking styles, favorite fishes, and even favorite Football teams. As a foodie I enjoy both the types of foods. The dish I am going to talk about now, was introduced to me by mamoni (my mother-in-law) in a family event. Being away from my native country, I get rare chances to enjoy food cooked by mamoni. But the ones, for which I got lucky to taste, will be shared in my blog. She is one of those people who inspired me a lot to pen down this blog. Therefore I am going to introduce a dal made with fish (Ilish) head. This dal is so simple but so flavorful with fish head that can make the Ilish (Hilsa) haters love the fish. I know Ilish (Hilsa) has its distinct smell, flavor and lots of fine bones. And many of us can't appreciate it. It is not something that you can eat with fork and spoon. Yes, you have to use your hand, sometimes even two hands. Now let’s start the cooking.

Recipe yields 6 servings

Ingredients

1. 1 cup moong dal (skinned spilt green grams)
2. 1 medium size Ilish(Hilsa)  head cut into medium pieces
3. 2 green chilies
4. 2 red chilies
5. salt according to your taste
6. sugar according to your taste
7. 2 tbsp mustard oil
8. 1.5 tsp ginger paste
9. 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
10. 1-2 bay leaves
11. 1.5 tsp turmeric powder

Methods

1. Marinate the fish head pieces with salt and 1 tsp of turmeric powder. Keep it aside.

2. Heat a  sauce-pan or dutch oven pan. In that pan add the moong dal and dry roast it in low flame till you get the nutty fragrance of the dal. (Note: Use a pot with depth as you will be boiling the dal. Please try not to cook the dal with a pressure cooker. Stir the dal with a wooden spatula continuously to avoid burning.)

3. Once you get the aroma and the color of the dal turns opaque and golden brown add water, salt, green chilies. Let it boil, skim off. Discard the foam that arises on the top. Frequently check if the dal is soft enough. Add 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder. (Note: The dal should be soft enough but all the dal pieces shouldn't turn mushy. There should be some dal pieces turn soft but remain intact in shape)

4. In another frying pan heat the mustard oil. Add the marinated fish head pieces and fry those. When they were fried, add the ginger paste, cumin seeds, red chilies and bay leaves. Fry once more for 2-3 mins in medium flame. (Note: The fried fish head pieces should not be over fried and crunchy. They should be soft enough to absorb the flavor of the dal)

5. Now add the fried fish with all tempering ingredients into the boiled dal soup. Stir it continuously with the heat on. Let it boil once more. Check the salt and sugar. If needed adjust the salt and sugar. This dal should be little on the sweeter side. Thus adjust the sugar according to your taste.

Serve the dal with steaming white rice and some fries of your choice. Sweet potato fries or simple potato fries will be nice as sides for this dish. This dal can be prepared quickly and it can bring special feeling in the daily mundane weekday’s meal. This is the season (rainy season in India) for Ilish(Hilsa) fish and sometimes we don't have ingredients for making a curry with fish head. But Moong dal is a staple in household pantry and don't need any planning to prepare this dish. Try it before the Hilsa season is over, and let me know how much you like it. And please use your careful hands and teeth to eat the fish without getting the fine bones stuck in your throat.

Thanks,

Moumita