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Hilsa is a bond shared across borders by the two Bengals – a unifying thread between India and Bangladesh, intact even now, 75 years since Independence.
A delicate slice of fish slathered in mustard sauce accompanied by a splodge of steamed rice – both set on a banana leaf-lined platter. The picture sums up the Bengali gastronomic allure. The fish variety in question is the Hilsa.
It has been 75 years since Bengal was sliced into two halves by the Partition, yet the epicurean common ground between West Bengal and Bangladesh (erstwhile East Pakistan), remains unbroken.
Both sides of Bengal still have many shared recipes which have travelled through time. The undisputed hero of this unbroken Bengali culinary spirit is the Hilsa. The fish is named after a village in Bangladesh, which underwrites the nostalgia among Bengalis for undivided Bengal.
The national fish of Bangladesh, Hilsa is also the state fish of West Bengal. Bangladesh owes over one per cent of its GDP to this silvery shad in the production and exports of which lakhs of Bangladeshis are involved.
The dominance of the fish in Bengali customs and cuisine is widely known. In West Bengal, no Bengali custom or ritual is complete without Hilsa. Weddings, pujas and multitudes of other customs involve gifting or offering of not one but two full Hilsas – an auspicious symbolism of double fish – called jora illish.
Partially, such high value is attributed to this fish – which gladdens the hearts of any Bangla-speaking person is because Hilsa unlike the carps like Rui or Catla, can’t be bred in a pond or lake. Hilsa is a river fish and they get fettered in fishnets when they surface to spawn around monsoon.
There are over 50 ways to cook Hilsa, they say. Both sides of Bengal have a variety of recipes to prepare this fish. The most delicate preparation of Hilsa is illish paturi or Hilsa baked in banana leaf parcels.
The other ways in which Hilsa is savoured is a light dish with eggplant, doi illish (Hilsa cooked with curd), nona illish (salted Hilsa), illish polao (a rice pilav with Hilsa), tel illish (Hilsa fried in mustard oil), bhapa illish (steamed Hilsa). The head of the fish makes for a whole range of dishes too – cooked with shaak (greens) or lentils.
Khastan Habib, a Dhaka-based foodie who explores Kolkata cuisines frequently says there are both similarities and dissimilarities in the way Bengalis on either side of the border savour Hilsa. Unlike West Bengal, Hilsa, though an important fish, does not dominate the menu card in Bangladesh, he says. “I feel that Bengalis in West Bengal have a keen liking for Hilsa and still, many important meals at home or on special occasions have Hilsa as the main dish in West Bengal, however in Bangladeshi homes – though Hilsa is important, people prefer beef as the main course.”
An excessive craving for the fish among Bengalis has also become a bane for the Hilsa resulting in a dwindling of the volume of the catch on one hand and a steep rise in prices on the other. Fishing for Hilsa is officially banned between April and June; even then, premature varieties of Hilsa which weigh around 400 gms, continue to be available in markets. The fish is increasingly becoming unaffordable for the middle class. The prices are steep and this July, Kolkata markets are selling the fish at anything between Rs 1,200 a kg to Rs 2,000 a kg.
Part of the Hilsa crisis in India has been a result of a ban on Hilsa exports by Bangladesh between 2012 and 2018 - a fall out of failed Delhi-Dhaka talks over Teesta waters. Hilsa remains the undisputed queen of the Bengali culinary identity. Some fusion attempts of cooking the fish like a Biriyani or the South Indian way with mustard and curry leaves have never fetched aplomb. Perhaps because of its own strong flavours - the best way to have the Hilsa, as many agree, remains the Bengali way - slathered in mustard with hot steamy rice.