Mum's Recipe - Shukto

Shukto is a vegetarian Bengali dish, starring karela as the main ingredient. It's typically eaten at lunch time. There are many recipes for this floating on the internet, but this is my Mum's version.

Ingredients:
Vegetables -
Karela - 1
Potato - 1
String beans (barbatti) - 6-10
Eggplant - 1 (medium sized)
Raw banana - 1
Broad beans (shim) - 6-10
Daikon Radish (muli) - 1/2
Drumsticks (shojne daata) - 2
Bodi (optional) - 4-6
Panch phoron - 1 tsp whole, 1 tbsp ground to powder
Ginger - 1 inch piece
Fennel seeds - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tbsp
Poppy seeds - 1 tbsp
Ghee - 2 tsp
Vegetable Oil - 2 tbsp
Flour - 1 tbsp
Milk - 1/2  cup
Sugar - 1 tsp
Salt to taste

Karela and potatoes are the only ones that are mandatory. Apart from these, use any combination of the other vegetables that are available. However, for the authentic dish you need to use at least 3 additional vegetables.

1. Cut all vegetables (except karela) to 1.5-2 inch pieces (as in the picture). Slice the karela thinly and set aside.

2. Grind to a paste with water - ginger, fennel seeds, mustard seeds and poppy seeds. The paste should be quite smooth with no noticeable whole mustard or fennel seeds.

3. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a deep kadhai and fry the bodi until golden brown. Remove bodi from pan and set aside.

3. Heat the remaining oil in the same kadhai and add whole panch phoron spices. Wait until the seeds start to pop and the aromas are released. Add all the vegetables except karela to the kadhai and sautee for  4-5 minutes.

4. When vegetables are slightly softened, add the spice paste, sugar, salt, fried bodi and enough water to cover the vegetables. Bring to a rolling boil.

5. While the vegetable mixture is boiling, heat 1 tbsp of ghee in a frying pan. Add the sliced karela and fry until slightly crisp and golden. Add the fried karela to the vegetable mixture.

6. In the same frying pan, heat the remaining ghee and add the powdered panch phoron mix. Pour the ghee mixture onto the vegetables.

7. Mix together the milk and flour to form a smooth paste and add it to the main dish.

8. Cover and continue to cook until the vegetables (potatoes, beans, etc) are tender.

Serve with hot steamed rice as the first course for a Bengali lunch!

Tabak Maaz

Tabak Maaz is a Kashmiri dish I first had at Delhi Haat's Kashmiri stall, Wazwaan. It is a simple dish made of lamb ribs cooked in milk and spices.
(The image on the left isn't mine!)


Ingredients:

1/2 Kg Lamb Riblets (This is the ribs of the lamb) - Cut into 3-4 inch long 2-rib wide pieces
500 ml Milk (Preferably full cream)
1 tsp Saunf (Fennel) powder
1 tsp Saunth (Dry powdered ginger)
1 pinch Hing (Asafoetida)
1 inch piece of Cinnamon
2-3 Cloves
Salt to taste
Ghee for frying (if required)

Method:
1) Clean the ribs and leave any fat on. Rub some salt over ribs (1 tsp) and let stand for half an hour.
2) Coarsely crush the cinnamon and cloves and add to a kadhai/wok the milk and the powdered spices.
3) Add the ribs and bring to a boil.
4) Reduce to low heat and let the mixture simmer until the milk has mostly evaporated.
5) Once the mixture looks like a thick gravy, taste the sauce to check for seasoning. Add more salt at this point if required.
6) Raise the heat to high again and stir continually until all the liquid has evaporated.
7) At this point, if the ribs had enough fat, there should be a layer of fat in which the meat continues to fry. If this does not happen, add 2 tbs of ghee to the same pan, and continue to fry until the meat is golden brown.

Serve as a snack or entree.