Shukto

Shukto is said to have been influenced by Portuguese cuisine when parts of coastal Bengal were colonized by the Portuguese Empire. The Portuguese settlers may have modified a similar dish by adding local ingredients like bitter gourd, and developed it into a mouth freshener, mixing it with other vegetables. Over time, the dish became a part of Bengali cuisine with some additional ingredients like milk, bori, mustard paste and oil.[2]

Pritha Sen, however, disagrees and states the origin to predate the 16th century Portuguese arrival in Bengal. According to Sen, the tradition of starting a meal by consuming bitters, considered to have a medicinal value, dates back to the ancient times and was promoted by the authors of Ayurveda. She also states that Shukto was consumed as a cooling agent in the hot and humid climates of the ancient kingdoms of undivided Bengal like Anga, Vanga and Kalinga. Shukto is also said to have mentions in Mangal-Kāvya, written during the medieval period and in the biographies of Sri Chaitanya.[2][1]

Dudh Shukto is a popular variant which is prepared with milk to alleviate the bitter taste of the dish.[2]

Some variants are made with fishes of different sizes. Such variants of Shukto typically use turmeric which is usually absent in the vegetarian variants. Some of the variants even exclude the bitter vegetables and are prepared with fenugreek seeds instead, to preserve the bitterness.[2]

• Bengali cuisine
• List of Indian dishes
• List of Bangladeshi dishes