Tilottama Rui

Tilottama rui as the name suggests is made with til or white sesame seeds. This recipe was published in a recipe book by Sananda magazine. The photo of this dish was so tempting that I thought to give it a try. The original recipe calls for both ginger and garlic but keeping the aroma of til in mind I skipped the garlic. It turned out really good.

Ingredients

• 6 pieces rui or catla (any Carp) cut into steaks
• 3 tsp. white sesame seeds
• 1 tsp. yellow mustard paste
• 1 tsp. grated ginger
• 2 – 3 green chilies slit length wise
• 1/2 tsp. kalonji (nigella seeds)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 tsp. turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp. sugar
• Salt to taste
• Mustard oil

Procedure

Rub fish steaks with one tsp. turmeric powder and salt and keep aside for 15 minutes.

In a pan dry roast sesame seeds on very low heat for a minute or two. Ensure that their color remains white. Then make a paste out of this roasted sesame seeds in a grinder. You can first grind it dry and then add little water to make the paste.

In a small bowl mix the mustard paste with a quarter cup of milk and keep it handy.

Heat oil in a wok and fry the marinated fish steaks till both sides turn golden brown. Remove and keep them on an absorbent paper.

Take fresh oil in a pan and heat it. Lower the heat and temper with kalonji seeds. Add mustard paste to it. Squeeze out ginger juice from grated ginger and add the juice. Sauté for a while and then add sesame seed paste. Fry everything on low heat till oil separates out.

Add rest of the milk, green chilies and fish steaks to it. Sprinkle salt and sugar and let it simmer for about 5 – 7 minutes on medium heat. Turn off the heat.

Serve with plain white rice.