Bengali vegetable curry shukto

A must try traditional bengali mixed vegetable dish has unique taste. It has a pleasant bitterness yet it’s slightly sweet and salty. It has a creamy texture. It’s surely deligtful. Serve it with steamed rice at the beginning of the meal.

4 Bitter Gourd
1 Eggplants
1 Raw Cooking Banana (Small)
2 Potato (Medium)
2 Sweet Potato (Small)
2 Drumsticks
1 White radish
5 Hyacinth Beans
10-15 Bori
2 Tbsp. Poppy seeds
1 Tbsp. Mustard  Seed
1 Tbsp. Ginger paste
1 Tsp. Bengali Five Spices
2 Tsp. Randhuni (optional)
1 Tsp. Turmeric Powder (optional)
1 Tbsp. Sugar
1 Tsp. Salt
4 Tbsp. purti kachi ghani Mustard Oil for Frying and Tempering
1 Tbsp. Ghee
1 Cup Milk
4 cup Water

Soak both Mustard Seed and Poppy seed in water for 10 minutes & Make a smooth paste of them separately.Crush 1Tsp.  Randhuni. Use 1 Tsp. whole Randhuni as tempering. Wash all the veggies & Cut Bitter Gourd, Eggplant, Green Banana, Potato, Sweet potato, White radish, Hyacinth Beans into ( 1/2″) and Drumsticks into after peeling the outer skin of each veggie except Eggplant.

Heat Purti kachi ghani Mustard Oil in a Wok.
Now sprinkle some salt and turmeric powder over the pieces of Eggplant and fry in the remaining oil. After that fry Bitter gourd.
Now fry Bari in medium flame and strain from oil.
Temper remaining oil with Panchphoron & Randhuni.
Now fry Green Banana, Potato, Sweet potato, Drumsticks, White radish and Hyacinth Beans one by one.

Do not strain the veggies from the pan from now on.
Add the Ginger paste & cook for 1-2 minutes & add Poppy seed paste & Mustard paste & again cook for around 2 minutes.

Add Turmeric Powder (optional), Salt & Sugar again cook for 1-2 minutes.
Now add milk & water to the Spice mix & bring it to boil.
Add all the fried veggies along with raw Drumstick and cover the wok with a lid.
Cook for around 8-10 minutes on low flame or till the veggies cooked properly.
Check the water level and if required add some more water since Shukto should have sufficient gravy.

Now add crushed Randhuni.
Add Ghee to the Curry and boil for around 2 minutes and switch the flame off.
Shukto is ready to serve.
Serve it hot with steamed rice to initiate the meal.