All the vegetables need to be washed thoroughly. Then all of them need to be cut into one and half inch pieces.

Heat mustard oil in a kadai. First you need to fry the bori. Here one must be careful to keep the heat at medium since bori fries very quickly. It will take about a couple of minutes for this process. Once fried, keep the bori aside.

Then fry the bitter gourd till they are a little brown. Keep them aside.

In the same oil, add the bay leaf and radhuni. When it starts to give out flavour (which is almost instantly), add the potatoes, raddish, sweet potato, plantain, drumstick and long beans. Sprinkle some salt and stir fry the vegetables for five minutes. Then reduce the flame, cover wit a lid and let the vegetables cook in its own juices. Keep stirring from time to time so that nothing sticks to the bottom.

After about 12- 15 minutes of cooking, add the brinjals. Mix it all up and again cover and cook.

While the vegetables are cooking, you need to add a 2 tbsp of water in the mustard paste. Then through a fine sieve, strain the mustard paste so that you are left with only the flavoured water.

About 20 minutes into the cook, add the bitter gourds and the bori. Then stir in the mustard water, poppy seed paste and sugar.

Add about 3 to 4 cups of water and let it simmer. At this point, crush the panch phoron in a mortar and pestle. Take a small skillet and add 2 tbsp of ghee. When the ghee is hot, add panch phoron powder. When the spices have been tempered, add this to the simmering vegetables.

Check the seasoning and add more salt if required.

Finally, in half a cup of milk, stor the ginger paste and the aata and add this slurry to the vegetables. Give it a boil and your shukto is ready.