Bottle Gourd with Hilsa Head (Ilish maacer matha diye lau)

One of my caucasian friends once told me "you know, I have seen fish heads sold separately in Asian stores, they look kinda gross". To her shock, I replied, "in our cuisine we don't leave out any part of the fish either". 

I had some Hilsa head in the freezer. Unfortunately, my husband is not a fish-bone lover. I like to cook fish heads but because of him my consumption of dishes, using fish bone/head, has gone down significantly. In Bengali cuisine, fish head is cooked with dal/lentil or with vegetables or with rice. And the type of curry varies as well. This time I thought of preparing the heads with lau or bottle gourd. Bottle gourd is famously prepared with prawns. I have even heard some friends refusing to make lau without prawns. Lau with fish heads, however, is a common recipe. For this recipe I have used minimal spices to keep the aroma of hilsa intact. 

Ingredients:
2 fish heads cut into halves
3 small bottle gourds, shredded
2 whole chilies slit
1 tsp turmeric
Oil for cooking
Salt and sugar to taste

Recipe:

• Rub the heads with salt and turmeric 
• Fry (or bake for 30 mins at 400F) the heads very well and keep aside
• Heat some oil
• Add chilies, be careful of the spluttering
• Add the fish heads and the shredded bottle gourd to the oil
• Add the turmeric, salt and sugar
• Saute on medium heat very well until the water from the bottle gourd dries up