East Indian
Shukto (Bengali Bitter Mixed Vegetable Stew)
Shukto (Bengali Bitter Mixed Vegetable Stew) is East Indian home cooking, eaten at lunch. On the plate it is the dish at the centre and the cooked vegetable. Below is what usually sits beside it, what it does and does not contain, and what else to cook once you have made it.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup bitter gourd, sliced
- 1 potato, cubed
- 1 raw banana (plantain), cubed
- 1/2 cup eggplant, cubed
- 1/2 cup radish, cubed
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 tbsp ghee
- 2 tbsp mustard oil
- 1 tsp panch phoron (five-spice blend)
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp ginger paste
- 1 tbsp mustard paste
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
How to cook it
- Heat the mustard oil in a heavy pot and temper with the panch phoron and bay leaf until fragrant.
- Add the bitter gourd first and fry for 2 minutes to mellow its edge, then add the potato, raw banana, radish, and eggplant.
- Stir in the ginger paste, mustard paste, salt, and sugar, and cook for 5 minutes until the vegetables are lightly coated.
- Pour in the milk and enough water to just cover the vegetables, then simmer until everything is tender, about 20 minutes.
- Finish with a spoon of ghee and serve as the first course of the meal, the traditional bitter opener before dal and rice.
Serve it with
A East Indian lunch is a plate rather than a single dish. These are the courses that normally sit beside Shukto (Bengali Bitter Mixed Vegetable Stew), read from the same composition Dinejot builds a real meal from.
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The protein alongside
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What it is eaten with
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The sharp little thing
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Something cool and fresh
A course labelled with another kitchen's name comes from a cuisine in the same family, which is where this plate usually borrows it from.
Safe at your table
Dinejot tracks ten allergens and tags every one of them by hand, so the absences below are as deliberate as the presences. Shukto (Bengali Bitter Mixed Vegetable Stew) carries dairy. It is free of the remaining 9 allergens on that list.
| Allergen | In this dish | Cook this instead |
|---|---|---|
| Peanuts | No | |
| Tree nuts | No | |
| Dairy | Yes | Aloo Bhaja (Bengali Fried Potato Strips) |
| Gluten | No | |
| Shellfish | No | |
| Eggs | No | |
| Soy | No | |
| Fish | No | |
| Sesame | No | |
| Coconut | No |
These tags are set by a person rather than inferred from an ingredient list, and they describe the recipe as written here. Read the labels on whatever you actually buy.
What it brings to the plate
Bands, not numbers. Dinejot does not weigh anybody's food, so it says light, moderate or hearty and stops there. This dish was read and set by hand.
- Calorie band
- Light
- Protein
- Low
- Food groups it covers
- Vegetables and Dairy
- How this was set
- Hand audited
When to cook it
Shukto (Bengali Bitter Mixed Vegetable Stew) takes about 45 minutes from a cold stove to the table, and the cooking itself is a fair bit of work. It is eaten at lunch. Nothing in the calendar rules it out, so it is a year round dish.
Watch someone make it
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More to cook
Cooked from the same things
Other dishes built on bitter gourd, potato, and eggplant.
From the same kitchens
More cooking from East India.
Does the same job on the plate
Swap any of these in when you want a meal the same shape.
Cook this with your whole family
Dinejot plans breakfast, lunch and dinner as whole plates, built around the cooking you call home and filtered for the allergies at your table.
Meal suggestions support your goals. They are not medical advice. Please ask your doctor about your family's health needs.