Lau Shaak Sheem Recipe 

Lau shaak Sheem hold the soul of being a leafy vegetable dish – simple, easy and healthy. The dish is easy to make, and should not take more than half an hour. The dish is all vegetables, so you know it is healthy. If you are a fan of leafy vegetables or just a fan of Bengali cooking in general, do give this dish a try. This is a quintessential Bengali cuisine that is not anybody’s favorite, but is a part of our culture nevertheless.

While discussing Bengali cuisine, “mache bhaate bengali” is a saying that comes up a lot. I’ve talked about it multiple times while writing about Moni Dadi recipes. The phrase means fish and boiled rice make up Bengali people. This puts fish as the main food of our nation, which is correct. But it overshadows the significance of vegetables in the daily life of Bengalis. Today’s dish is purely vegetables, so I will be getting the chance to talk about the vegetables in Bengali cuisine. And there are over 100 vegetables, local and exotic, that are a part of Bengali food.

Vegetables are a pretty vague term in every culture. Nutritionists consider tomato to be a vegetable, but botanically it is a fruit. Similarly, botanically all gourds are fruits as well. But when you see a bottle gourd, does the word fruit ever come to your mind? So everything that is a vegetable will be considered as a vegetable. Botanically correct terms will not be used to avoid confusion.

For clarification, this dish is made from the leaves of bottle gourd. The English name of the dish, Gourd and Beans might give you the idea that it is made from gourd. But it is the leaves, not the bottle gourd, that is used for the dish. And beans are not exactly made in the western style, here the beans are kept inside the long shell. The Bangla name does not create any such confusion, Lau shaak Sheem is a name every Bengali will recognize.

All of you recognize bottle gourd, it is a pretty iconic looking vegetable. But I have never seen any western dish being made with bottle gourd. So if there are any noteworthy western dishes, please name drop them here.

But since I have not seen any bottle gourd dishes in the movies and tv shows, my main source of knowledge about western culture, I am gonna make an educated guess that you are not familiar with the leaves of bottle gourd either. That makes sense, because you are getting this delicious vegetable right there. Why would you be cooking the leaves of that vegetable? But Bengali people never stopped at that “why” and they answered the question by doing it. Because the leaves are delicious. Well at least to some people.

Regular readers might know that I am not a lover of leafy vegetables, or shaak as it is known in Bangla. And neither are most of the people of my generation. So you can guess why the internet is full of love for biriyani and nostalgia for khichuri, but nothing much about vegetables. Because most of the time we move the leafy vegetable away from our plates, not getting a chance to form any sentiments with them. But that is totally on us, not the vegetables. Because the variety and taste of these leafy vegetables is astounding to say the least.

So far I have mentioned Lau shaak, the main ingredient of today’s dish. But Lau shaak is completely different in taste and texture from, say Paat Shaak (Jute spinach). These two are completely different from Lal Shaak or red spinach – a leafy vegetable that is red in color.

Then there is Sheem. It is called evans but in Bengali curries usually the beanstalk is kept during the cooking process. Some specific dishes only use the beans, but most curries have the beanstalk cooked as well. So the joy of enjoying the beans is perturbed by the beanstalk.

So even if you are completely unfamiliar with the wide variety of leafy vegetables in Bengali cuisine, you can imagine the influence. Especially for the rural people, those who can grow these vegetables in their backyards, or buy them for a cheap price compared to the fish and meat available in the market.

Lau shaak Sheem hold the soul of being a leafy vegetable dish – simple, easy and healthy. The dish is easy to make, and should not take more than half an hour. The dish is all vegetables, so you know it is healthy. If you are a fan of leafy vegetables or just a fan of Bengali cooking in general, do give this dish a try. This is a quintessential Bengali cuisine that is not anybody’s favorite, but is a part of our culture nevertheless.