Labra – Bengali vegetable stew
Description
This dish represents that kind of comfort food that you want to have on a rainy day like this one. Simply warming and comforting!
Labra is a Bengali dish served in Bangladesh and West Bengal, India. It contains a lot of vegetables and it is perfect for vegetarians. I have added sweet potato, cauliflower, eggplant, zucchini and pumpkin in mine. There might be variations though: some people add tomatoes or potatoes as well or even spinach. Just use the vegetables that you like the most. All of these are coated in fresh coconut and a lot of spices, then transformed into a delicious curry. Definitely one of my favorite veg dishes!
Ingredients
Vegetables
Spices
Spice paste
Instructions
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Start by heating some coconut oil into a pan and then add the cumin seeds, nigella seeds, the hing, the mustard seeds and the dry red chilli and fry them for 30 seconds. Allow to splutter.
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Add the sweet potato and some water and cook it for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, add all the other remaining veggies (eggplant, zucchini, cauliflower), the spice paste and the blended coconut.
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Mix everything well and make sure the veggies are coated with the spice paste and coconut.
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Cook everything for 5 minutes with the lid on. After 5 minutes, you can add some water and then cook it for further 5-10 minutes.
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Serve with naan or any type of flatbread.