Panch Mishali Shukto - 5-Vegetable Stew

Panch Mishali Shukto

Shukto

Shukto (shook-tho) is a classic Bengali dish and is the traditional beginning or starter to both festive and ordinary meals at the Bengali table. It's a melange of colourful vegetables (purple eggplants, orange carrots, white radish, white potatoes and green bitter melons) and textures (crunchy bitter melons, carrots and radish and soft melt-in-the-mouth potatoes). If available, do add shojne data/drumsticks and kanch kola/green bananas. 

Bitter melon is the main ingredient in shukto, revered for its bitter flavour and so good for balancing blood sugar levels. Because Hubby abhors bitter melon, I've made shukto sans bitter melon for him, hence the two pictures above.

Using very little oil and hardly any spices, this dish gets it zesty flavour from ginger and black mustard paste or shorshe bata that is blended with salt and a green chili. The eggplant pieces are fried first and set aside, the crunchy vegetables and potatoes are then stir-fried in ginger paste, eggplant returned to the skillet and then all of it simmered in mustard sauce.

This side dish which is both vegetarian and vegan, is best eaten with freshly steamed Basmati rice.

Lau Shukto - Squash in Mustard and Poppy Seed Sauce

Lau Shukto

Shukto is a very Bengali dish of vegetables that must include bitter melon as a component. However, some vegetables such as bottle gourd or lau (it's Bengali name) can be cooked on its own, in the same style, and are also called shukto. I have cheated by adding onions (not considered vegetarian) and tomatoes to this Lau Shukto. Our Ninja Chopper came in handy again to dice the vegetables really fine, so that they cook quicker. 

This can be served as a side dish with rice or chapatis.

Panch Mishali Shukto - 5 Vegetables in Mustard Sauce

Often 3, 5, 7 or 9 vegetables are combined together in a melange of textures and colours in Indian cuisine. Navratan Korma is sometimes found on the menu in Indian restaurants and that translates to a creamy mixture of 9 (navratan) vegetables. In Bengali cuisine, an odd number of vegetables are combined in a stir-fry and is called paanch (5) or shaath (7) mishali (mix).

Shukto is eaten as the first course in a Bengali meal because it is bitter due to the inclusion of bitter melon. The shukto that was served for lunch yesterday comprised bitter melon, sweet potatoes, russet potatoes, eggplant and zucchini, enveloped in a mustard sauce. 

Bitter melon is certainly an acquired taste and the reason they are a favourite is because it's been a staple in our household since my earliest memories. I once asked Mum why everyone in our family likes bitter melon so much and she said she used to steam them and hand one to each of us 8 siblings and we would walk around eating it like candy.

Shukto - Bitter Melon with a Melange of Vegetables in Mustard & Poppy Seed Sauce

Stir Fried Bitter Melon with 5 Vegetables - Shukto

Ingredients:
2 Chinese bitter melons or 3 ucchay, deseeded and chopped
1 sweet potato, peeled and chopped
1 russet potato, peeled and chopped
1 daikon radish, peeled and chopped
2 Oriental eggplants, chopped and tossed with salt

4 Tbsp. oil
1/2 tsp. radhuni (wild celery seeds)
2 tej pata (bay leaves)
2 tsp. ginger paste
1 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
3 Tbsp. milk
1 tsp. roasted panch phoron powder (Bengali 5-Spice)
ghee
sliced green chillies
1/4 tsp. sugar

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a pan and sputter radhuni and tej pata.
2. Add radish, sweet & russet potatoes, salt and ginger paste.
3. Stir well and cook over medium heat until vegetables are partly cooked.
4. Add karela and salted eggplant, stir well, cover and cook until vegetables are soft.
5. Make a slurry with the flour and milk. 
6. Add sugar & green chilies to vegetables along with the slurry and stir.
7. Cover and cook for 2 minutes.
8. Remove from heat and garnish with ghee and panch phoron powder.