Gota Sheddho(seddho or siddho) is a slow-cooked Bengali whole vegetable curry without masala. Cooked along with whole veggies palong shaak is the most important ingredient in this dish. A mustard oil sauteed whole red chillies and paanch phoron flavoured this curry. Sugar is also added with salt to enhance its taste. It is a less spicy palong shaker chorchori with gota sobji if described in Bengali. A no onion or garlic dish. Not only for vegetarians, but it is also a completely vegan dish.
Gota Sheddho is a traditional dish of West Bengal especially prepared on the Saraswati puja occasion. This curry is served with panta bhaat (last night’s fermented rice)and lau diye kul’er chatni (a sweet pickle with bottle gourd and ripe jujube) on the very next day as Sitala puja (Shitol Sosthi) meal. That day is a no cooking day, no body can turn on the stove. This meal not only keeps the stomach cool & healthy but our mothers can take one day’s rest from cooking.
Gota means whole here denotes whole vegetables and Sheddho means boiled or cooked without spics. As prepared on Saraswati puja occasion so obviously winter time vegetables are the main ingredient of this dish. Such as Palong shaak, sweet potatoes, baby potatoes, brinjal, green pea pods, whole green moong, flat beans, etc.
Generally, 5 types of whole vegetables are cooked with palong shaak(palong shak with data) with a few whole pulses to make this curry. Sitting in Bangalore it wasn’t easy to collect the Shish palong(matured palong shak with data). So initially started making this dish with the regular palong shaak. Later started growing palong on my balcony and kept it until matured with a hard juicy stem. I used the same homegrown palong for making today’s recipe. However, 9 sojne phul (drumstick’s flower) is one more important ingredient as per our tradition, but not able to get so I made it without that flower. My mom says the drumstick flower works as an antipox, preventing us from having chicken pox or smallpox. All the ingredients of this curry have medicinal properties to prevent us from the illness of seasonal changes.
Gota Sheddho, prepared with little spices, is also known as masala Gota. In Bengal(West Bengal), there are two varieties: without spices and with little spices. The way the dish is prepared is determined by the old tradition of that particular family. For example, in my family, Gota Sheddho is prepared with little spices as per our family tradition.
My mom learned this dish from my Grandma and later passed it on to me. Due to being quite dry and almost having no gravy we call it gota chorchori too.
I am a huge fan of Gota Sheddho. If you are also a huge fan of this dish. So must try it on and let me know your feedback about this recipe. Write me down in the comment section below.
A few more Saraswati Puja special Bengali recipes
Gota Sheddho recipe | Masala Gota | Gota chorchori recipe
Course: LunchCuisine: BengaliDifficulty: Easy8 -10
servings15
minutes30
minutes300
kcal45
minutesGota Sheddho(seddho) is a slow-cooked Bengali whole vegetable curry without masala. Whole sweet potatoes, baby potatoes, brinjal, green pea pods, flat beans and whole pulses are cooked with palong shak for making this curry. A no onion or garlic dish. Served with Panta bhat, muri(moori), or roti.
Ingredients
450 g Palong Shaak(with stem)
300 g Baby Potatoes
350 g Brinjal(Small)
100 g Flat beans (Sim)
50 g Green peas Pods
200 g Sweet Potatoes
100 g Black Chana + white peas + whole green moong
1+1/2 inch Ginger
2 Green Chillies
2 tsp Cumin Powder
2 tsp Coriander Powder
1 tsp Turmeric powder
1/2 tsp red chilli powder (optional)
3 tsp Sugar
1 tsp Salt
3 Whole Red chillies
1 tsp Paanch phoron
125 ml Mustard oil
Directions
- Thoroughly wash the vegetables, and slit the brinjal from the top. Wash and cut the palong shak too.
- Heat the pan, add mustard oil, and heat the oil until the release smokes.
- Put paanch phoron(Bengali five spice) and 3 whole red chilies in oil, a little saute.
- Add the vegetables first, stir them into oil, and then add the palong shak. Mix them well with vegetables.
- Add Soaked black Chana + white peas + whole green moong, and mix them well with the other ingredients.
- Cover the pan and cook it on slow heat.
- After 8-10 mins of cooking, add a paste of ginger, green chilli, cumin powder, coriander powder, and turmeric powder. Mix it well.
- Then add sugar, salt, and red chilli powder, mix it gently, cover the pan cook it until the vegetable gets soft.
- Once the vegetables are perfectly cooked, cook this curry until almost dry off the gravy. Turn off the heat.
- Gota Sheddho is ready, serve this dish with panta bhat, muri, or roti.
Notes
- Must slit the brinjal from the top to check if the insects are inside.
- I chop half of the brinjal stem and remove the stems of green pea pods and flat beans. Though optional.
- You can store this curry in the refrigerator for 2-3 days in an airtight container.