Fish in Banana Leaf

Name: Fish in Banana Leaf
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: India
Ingredients: 4 pieces young banana leaf, or foil, cut into neat pieces big enough to wrap the fish; 4 pieces young banana leaf, or foil, cut into neat pieces big enough to wrap the fish; ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric; 3 teaspoons mustard oil; 4 pieces young banana leaf, or foil, cut into neat pieces big enough to wrap the fish; 1 teaspoon chilli powder; 3 tablespoons brown mustard seeds; ½ teaspoon salt; 4 green chillies, chopped; 5 cm (2 inch) piece of ginger, chopped; 4 × 120 g (4 oz) pieces hilsa (elish) or blue-eye fillet, skinned; 4 × 120 g (4 oz) pieces hilsa (elish) or blue-eye fillet, skinned; 1½ tablespoons lemon juice

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

The Food of India

By Priya Wickramasinghe and Carol Selva Rajah

Published 2005

About

This traditional way of preparing fish in bengal often uses hilsa (elish), a favourite fish of the area. Mustard oil is an important ingredient in bengali cooking and gives a unique flavour to dishes, though if unavailable you can use sunflower oil instead.

Ingredients

4 × 120 g (4 oz) pieces hilsa (elish) or blue-eye fillet, skinned
1½ tablespoons

Asia
India
Fish course
Pescatarian
Gluten-free
Spicy

Method

Wash the fish and pat dry with paper towels. Mix the lemon juice and salt and rub into the fish.

Grind the mustard seeds to a fine powder in a spice grinder or pestle and mortar. Put the mustard, ginger, chilli, mustard oil, turmeric and chilli powder in a food processor or pestle and mortar and grind to a smooth paste. Soften the banana leaves by dipping them in very hot water. Wipe dr