Kochu patai Ilish is a traditional Bengali way of cooking Hilsa where we make the fish parcels with edible taro leaves. Having soft, spice coated taro leaves with rice along with bits and pieces of Hilsa is a blissful eating experience on its own. The popular version of Paturi where we use banana leaves to make the parcels is a bit different from this recipe. Here we used freshly grated coconut with mustard, and poppy seeds paste. The ingredients complement the fish, and the taro leaves so well that you couldn’t able to stop yourself from reaching for a second helping. A must-try recipe during the season of Hilsa, I hope you’ll enjoy cooking it. Don’t forget to share your experience with me if you’re trying this recipe.
I cooked this traditional Bengali delicacy in my Mealthy MultiPot in only 5 minutes. Read on to know how?
Kochu patai Ilish/Hilsa Paturi in Taro leaves
Serves: 5
Ingredients
- Ilish/Hilsa fish- 5 pieces
- Freshly grated coconut- ½ cup
- Mustard paste- 4 tbsp
- Poppy seeds paste- 5 tbsp
- Green chilies- 5-6 (adjust according to your tolerance)
- Turmeric powder- 1 tsp
- Salt to taste
- Nigella seeds/Kalojire/Kalonji- ½ tsp
- Mustard oil- 3-4 tbsp + more for greasing the taro leaves
- Taro leaves/Kochu pata- 10 (try to get small-medium sized leaves for this dish)
Method
In a strainer add 2 tbsp of yellow and 2 tbsp black mustard seeds (50:50), wash under running water, and grind with one green chilli to a smooth paste by using your food processor. From this mustard paste use 4 tbsp for making Kochu patai Ilish. You can use rest (if anything left) of the paste for making mustard-based fish or vegetable curries.
Or else, you can use ready to use mustard powder (Sunrise brand). If cooking with the mustard seeds powder, use 3½ tbsp of it and follow the package instructions for dissolving.
Wash and add poppy seeds in a food processor with some water. Make a paste which would be thick, not watery. So, stop the food processor in between and keep adding a little amount of water. Finally, it will form a smooth paste. Now add the grated coconut and green chillies into this, blitz again, the mixture will become coarse, keep aside.
In a bowl, add poppy seeds-coconut paste, mustard paste, turmeric powder, kalojire/nigella seeds, salt, and mustard oil. Mix well, adjust the consistency of this paste by adding some water into it. I added 2 tbsp of water, this spice paste should be medium-thick, not watery, so add water carefully. Keep aside.
Wipe the taro leaves clean with a wet kitchen towel or you can alternately wash them under running water. Cut off the stems attached to the leaves. Grease the upper side of the leaves with mustard oil, you can use a pastry brush.
Place two Taro leaves (greased side up) on the kitchen counter by slightly overlapping each other (see the picture for reference) from the centre.
Dip a piece of Hilsa in the spice paste. Then place the spice paste coated Hilsa piece in the middle of the leaves. Wrap & fold the leaves gently from all the sides and make a parcel by tying with cotton thread.
Oil grease the base of the MultiPot steamer basket by using the pastry brush. Arrange the Hilsa leaf parcels inside of the basket.
Pour 1 cup of water to the stainless steel inner pot.
Place the steam trivet inside, upon the trivet place the steamer basket carefully.
Lock MultiPot lid in place and set steam vent handle to sealing. Select Pressure Cook and cook on High Pressure for 5 minutes.
When the cooking cycle is complete, turn steam vent handle to Venting to quick-release pressure.
Remove lid and take out the Hilsa Paturi (Hilsa leaf parcels) gently with a spatula and transfer them to a plate.
The Kochu patai Ilish is done, serve hot with steamed rice.
Discard the cotton threads before serving. Enjoy the Hilsa and soft mustard slathered taro leaves both with rice! 🙂
Mealthy India sent me their MultiPot recently to review the appliance, and I’m happy to share my journey here with the MultiPot so far.
The Mealthy MultiPot is not the kitchen appliance which you would be using occasionally. It is designed for every day cooking. In fact, cooking is just a general term, it does more than that. The MultiPot comes with 9 functions, pressure cooking, slow cooking, steaming, warming, rice cooking, sautéing, cake baking, pasteurizing, and culturing yogurt.
The Multipot comes packaged with a steamer basket, steam rack/trivet, an extra silicone gasket, silicone mitts to handle the hot inner pot, a rice/liquid measuring cup, a rice paddle, a ladle, and a recipe book.
Watch my MultiPot Unboxing video to know more:
My experience with the MultiPot so far:
I’m using the MultiPot for more than a month now. And I’ve cooked Shukto, Pish-Pash, Bengali style Mixed Vegetable (Panchmisheli Torkari), Ridge Gourd Prawn Curry, Chicken Curry, Yogurt Pointed Gourd Curry, etc.
The capacity of the stainless steel inner pot is 6 litre. And we’re a family of 3 people. The coolest part is the MultiPot allows you to cook food in any quantity. From 1 cup of rice to 2 cups of vegetables I’ve cooked food in small quantities many times and got great results.
What I liked about the MultiPot most that the food not only get cooked quickly in it but the veggies retain their shapes, don’t get over-cooked. I got perfectly cooked vegetable every time. And I didn’t set the Pressure Cooking timer for more than 10 minutes to cook the above-mentioned dishes.
The only thing you need to take care of that is adding liquids to the food. Always add 1 cup of liquid whether its water or chicken/vegetable stock to the Multipot while cooking on Pressure Cook/Steaming functions. You’ll get detailed recipe instructions on the MultiPot Recipe Book.
I want to mention here that I got the softest, perfectly cooked boneless chicken pieces which I’ve not achieved in the past by using the pressure cooker.
While MultiPot is cooking your food, you’re free to do any other work. That is another good reason which worked for me.
Why I’m loving MultiPot more than a traditional pressure cooker these days:
- It’s safer than a regular pressure cooker, don’t spill out the extra liquid remember messy kitchen counters with the spills of dal, mutton stock all over. That doesn’t happen with this appliance.
- If you’re away, the MultiPot keeps your food at the warm mode after cooking. So, when you arrive home you can get fresh, hot food from the MultiPot itself. No, food doesn’t get overcooked within that period.
I’ve not seen any significant difference in my electricity bill after a month of using the MultiPot. On average I’ve used the MultiPot 3-4 days in a week. The MultiPot is only intended for use in 220v/50Hz electrical systems in India.
It’s a budget-friendly, lightweight appliance. I highly recommend this, and you wouldn’t regret buying it. You can get your MultiPot from here. Happy Cooking! 🙂
Kochu patai Ilish/Hilsa Paturi in Taro leaves
Kochu patai Ilish is a traditional Bengali way of cooking Hilsa where we make the fish parcels with edible taro leaves. I've made this dish in MultiPot within 5 minutes.
Ingredients
- 5 pieces- Ilish/Hilsa fish
- ½ cup- Freshly grated coconut
- 4 tbsp- Mustard paste
- 5 tbsp- Poppy seeds
- 5-6- Green chilies (adjust according to your tolerance)
- 1 tsp- Turmeric powder
- Salt to taste
- ½ tsp- Nigella seeds/Kalojire/Kalonji
- 3-4 tbsp + more for greasing the taro leaves- Mustard oil
- 10- Taro leaves/Kochu pata (try to get small-medium sized leaves for this dish)
Instructions
-
In a strainer add 2 tbsp of yellow and 2 tbsp black mustard seeds (50:50), wash under running water, and grind with one green chilli to a smooth paste by using your food processor. From this mustard paste use 4 tbsp for making Kochu patai Ilish. You can use rest (if anything left) of the paste for making mustard-based fish or vegetable curries.
-
Or else, you can use ready to use mustard powder (Sunrise brand). If cooking with the mustard seeds powder, use 3½ tbsp of it and follow the package instructions for dissolving.
-
Wash and add poppy seeds in a food processor with some water. Make a paste which would be thick, not watery. So, stop the food processor in between and keep adding a little amount of water. Finally, it will form a smooth paste. Now add the grated coconut and green chillies into this, blitz again, the mixture will become coarse, keep aside.
-
In a bowl, add poppy seeds-coconut paste, mustard paste, turmeric powder, kalojire/nigella seeds, salt, and mustard oil. Mix well, adjust the consistency of this paste by adding some water into it. I added 2 tbsp of water, this spice paste should be medium-thick, not watery, so add water carefully. Keep aside.
-
Wipe the taro leaves clean with a wet kitchen towel or you can alternately wash them under running water. Cut off the stems attached to the leaves. Grease the upper side of the leaves with mustard oil, you can use a pastry brush.
-
Place two Taro leaves (greased side up) on the kitchen counter by slightly overlapping each other (see the picture for reference) from the centre.
-
Dip a piece of Hilsa in the spice paste. Then place the spice paste coated Hilsa piece in the middle of the leaves. Wrap & fold the leaves gently from all the sides and make a parcel by tying with cotton thread.
-
Oil grease the base of the MultiPot steamer basket by using the pastry brush. Arrange the Hilsa leaf parcels inside of the basket.
-
Pour 1 cup of water to the stainless steel inner pot.
-
Place the steam trivet inside, upon the trivet place the steamer basket carefully.
-
Lock MultiPot lid in place and set steam vent handle to sealing. Select Pressure Cook and cook on High Pressure for 5 minutes.
-
When the cooking cycle is complete, turn steam vent handle to Venting to quick-release pressure.
-
Remove lid and take out the Hilsa Paturi (Hilsa leaf parcels) gently with a spatula and transfer them to a plate.
-
The Kochu patai Ilish is done, serve hot with steamed rice.
-
Discard the cotton threads before serving. Enjoy the Hilsa and soft mustard slathered taro leaves both with rice!
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