Try this ilish fish recipe, a mash of nona ilish, a form of dried and salted hilsa fish used to make an array of dishes. It is more of a delicacy in Bangladesh than in West Bengal, where nona ilish making is quite common. Hilsa holds the status of a national fish in Bangladesh, and it is significant to the country's economy, accounting for over 1 per cent of Bangladesh's GDP. After salting and drying, the fish is packed into earthen pots during the monsoon, when hilsa is most abundant, to preserve it for the months ahead. This method of preservation travelled to India primarily through migration, particularly to Tripura and other parts of the North-East, where communities that moved from Bangladesh continued preparing nona ilish as they always had. It remains a speciality dish in that region today, distinct from the fresh hilsa preparations more commonly cooked in West Bengal, and among hilsa recipes, bhorta stands out as one of the simplest ways to use it, essentially a fish paste cooked down with onion, garlic, and spices until it turns rich and mushy. Before any cooking begins, the dried fish needs to be soaked in water for about 30 minutes to remove the saltiness, which would otherwise overpower the dish. The fish scales are removed after soaking, and the pieces are rinsed again in fresh water before they are prepped for cooking. Mustard oil is the traditional choice for cooking this form of hilsa, and it helps tame the distinctly pungent smell of the dried fish.

Ilish or hilsa fish fry is great, but a thin curry featuring this oily fish that Bengalis wait all summer and winter to sample is simply irresistible. Meet this simple ilish fish recipe, which is the ilish tel jhol, where ‘ilish’ is the hilsa fish, ‘tel’ is oil and ‘jhol’ refers to the gravy or curry. It is named such because the fish curry is made almost entirely with mustard oil, nigella seeds (kalo jeere), green chillies, and a little salt, with nothing else. The point of this simple fish curry is to let the fish's rich flavours do the talking, and typically a fresh catch is preferred for this dish. Among hilsa recipes, this is the simplest one, and aside from the ingredients mentioned above, the fish gets a salt-and-turmeric marinade, typical of Bengali cooking. Then the fish is fried until firm, then added to the curry after tempering nigella seeds, green chillies, and a salt-turmeric paste loosened with hot water. A handful of brinjal, fried in the same mustard oil, complements the hilsa's flavour. For those who like their curries thicker, tend to add a little atta at the end. Because ilish is a bony, delicate fish, you have to be careful with it. After marinating, lower it carefully into the hot oil during frying, and use the same gentleness when adding it to the jhol. Do not stir too much and break the fish; ilish maach needs to stay intact, or their little bones might end up in the jhol and make it a nightmare to eat. Serve tel jhol with plain steamed rice.

Narali Purnima falls on the full moon of Shravan, the day fisherfolk along the Konkan coast ceremonially end the monsoon fishing ban, as per the government mandate, by offering coconuts to the sea before their boats go back out to get fresh fish to land as the monsoon enters its retreating phase. Within days of the festival, pomfret starts turning up in local markets in far greater numbers, and this particular pomfret fish recipe is one of the more underrated fish dishes. The curry is a thin, pale-yellow curry that gets its colour and flavour from the ground coconut and tamarind. This particular pomfret fish recipe hails from the Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu (CKP) community, who routinely use dried seafood, ranging from bombil (Bombay duck) to dried kolambi (prawns). These dried fish fuel many finishing communities along the Konkan coast through the lull period when fishing is prohibited. Fresh pomfret gets saved for moments when it's easy to source, and a festival built around the sea reopening for business is exactly that moment. What separates this kalvan from a Malvani rassa or a Goan fish curry is the wet masala used to make this curry. It has twenty cloves of garlic, whole coriander seeds, ginger, and a portion of tamarind pulp ground and used to marinate the fish, rather than the pomfret fish being fried plain. The flavour has hints of garlic, a sour edge and coconut that balances the pungency of the dish.