Jackfruit Seed Hummus

Recently, and rather unexpectedly, I found a huge 10+ pound Jackfruit on my kitchen counter.

Rather than speculate on whether it is still raw and green, in which case I can savor the green jackfruit delicacies, or ripe and ready, in which case I can relish the sweet flesh and make jam, I decided to cut it open. More precisely, have it cut open by the handy sous-chef, the other adult in the household.

The jackfruit we were beholding seemed a giant next to a large avocado. Amid discussions of how many avocados will it take to make a jackfruit that size vs. how many avocados will it take to weigh the same as that jackfruit, I thought a picture of their relative sizes was in order.

Right from the first bit of it I had probably when I was 5-ish, I've loved jackfruit - everything about it: the heady aroma, the way it hangs in the tree, the size it can get up to, the hard thorny-looking exterior, the precious yellow flesh covering the seed, and not the least of all, the meaty chestnut-like seeds! Yes, the jackfruit seeds are amazingly tasty when cooked especially in savory dishes, like my mom's specialty Chakka Kottai Molagoottal.

Having sung the virtues of Jackfruit a few years ago, I'll try to refrain from waxing eloquent on it again.

Ignoring the pleas of Please don't hurt the porcupine egg from the youngest, the jackfruit was cut into chunks. The earnest task of extracting the best edible parts had just begun.

With meticulous work, the juicy ripe yellow fruit sections/bulbs/pods were cut out discarding the fibrous innards. And then, the jackfruit seeds inside this flesh was pried out, again with practised ease (on my part) and much joy.

I remember spreading newspapers on the floor and, as a family, doing the exact same extraction procedure when I was young. Each jackfruit season. When, of course, there were fruit vendors who had already done the hard work and were lined up at the market to sell just the clean yellow flesh for a nominal price. I think my mom relished in making us work for it. And I thank her for it - now.

After making a small batch of Chakka Varatti, and some Elai Adai, it was time to focus on the seeds.

The seeds were pressure cooked till they were just done, not mushy. The harder greyish outer skin were  removed from the seeds as needed. One batch got dutifully frozen. Another batch created a new combination for Koottu that sort of came together that day as I was gathering a few things from the garden.

The last batch got made into hummus. Well, chutney/dip, if hummus purists feel strongly about it. But, hummus it shall remain for me. One of the best hummus born in my kitchen.

Jackfruit Seed Hummus

1 Tbsp Tahini
12 cooked jackfruit seeds
½ Tbsp sambal oelek
1 tsp red wine vinegar
 2 Tbsp olive oil
2 to 3 Tbsp water
1 small garlic clove, squeezed through a garlic press

Combine all the ingredients in  a food processor and blend to a paste.

Jackfruit Pit: Chakka Kottai Molagoottal

Jackfruit... evokes memories of idyllic childhood, gorging and groaning, waiting for the various forms in which this unique fruit can be consumed thanks to a mom who is a superb cook... it has always been one of my favorite fruits.

Savoring the local seasonal fruits was such a sweet childhood experience for me: Mango season, Jackfruit season, Seethapazham (Custard Apple) season, Chikku/Sapota season, Nagapazham season, Vilambazham season... had to get our fill else we have to wait a whole year before the season comes around and the fruit becomes available in plenty again.

Anyway, D had never beheld a whole jackfruit (chakkai) in its full glory, so, he bought one recently, and went through the process of cleaning it up and extracting the yellow-fleshed sweet fruit sections.

These delicious fruits have a hard pit (kottai), which are edible when cooked, and have a nutty flavor and a meaty potato-like texture that I have a weakness for. [Chakkai Kottai = Jackfruit Pit]. Because of its nutty flavor it is sometimes referred to as Jackfruit Nut or Jack Nut

Molagoottal is a rather mild south Indian dish which can be made with any seasonal vegetable and is a favorite alternative to the spicy curries, sambar and kozhambu. Molagoottal doesn't use any tamarind or spice powders like sambar, and has a delicate base of coconut, peppercorn and cumin. Vaazha Thandu (banana plant stem), white pumpkin or ash gourd, snake gourd, cabbage and carrots, as well as chakkai kottai all lend themselves to a delicious molagoottal which was my mom's specialty.

Molagoottal is usually served with rice and a pachadi. My preferred combination is chakkai kottai molagoottal with chutta kathrikkai pachadi (roasted/charred eggplant pachadi). I had harvested the last of the eggplants from our home-garden... skewered them and roasted them over open flame on my gas stove then followed the recipe as before.

Ingredients
Jackfruit Pits - as many as in picture, maybe more if available
½ cup carrots, chopped
1 cup cooked lentils (I use moong dal)
salt to taste

for the molagoottal base:
4 Tbsp dry grated coconut
1 Tbsp cumin seeds
3-6 dry red chilies (optional)
1 Tbsp whole black peppercorn

tempering:
1 Tbsp canola oil
1 tsp mustard seeds

garnish: curry leaves, cilantro

Preparation

1. Pressure cook the jackfruit pits (jackfruit nut, or jack nut) or cook on stovetop till tender but not mushy, like steamed or baked potato; remove the thick jacket/skin from the pits which easily come off when cooked well enough - this layer almost feels like plastic and is not quite edible - it is the pearly white layer seen in the jackfruit pits/nuts picture; the inner thin skin is a beautiful brown and the flesh is almost ivory white
2. Combine the molagoottal base ingredients in a blender and grind to a smooth fine paste, adding water as needed
3. In a pot, combine the carrots, cooked lentils and jack nut, molagoottal base paste, some water, salt, cover and simmer till flavors meld
4. Tempering: heat the oil in a small pan, when close to smoking add the mustard seeds and let them pop, turn off heat so as not to burn them
5. Top the molagoottal with these popped mustard seeds and garnish with curry leaves or cilantro

Elai Adai

Elai Adai is a simple Kerala delicacy my mom used to make in jackfruit season. And since my recent visit to India included the jackfruit season, and since we wanted to find a way to consume all the chakka varatti we made, this dish almost begged itself into existence :)

Basically, this can be roughly imagined as a sweet version of savory tamales, in principle. While tamales involve corn dough stuffed with minced savory meat, wrapped in corn husks and steamed, Elai Adai involves rice dough stuffed with jackfruit+jaggery+coconut mixture wrapped in banana leaves and steamed.

If Chakka Varatti is handy, this is rather easy to make for a lazy afternoon snack. Which is what my Athai (aunt, Dad's sister) did.

Adjust the quantity of batter depending on how much filling is available. Extra batter can be allowed to ferment a day or so and made into Aapam. Extra filling, of course, can be eaten as-is, no wastage :)

Any questions/doubts, I'll gladly pass it along to my mom or Athai and try to post their response. The recipe here is rather vague about quantities as my Athai and mom don't believe in exact measurements in their cooking (neither do I, for that matter), but, that I guess is the strength of experience...

And I managed to take pictures of her finished product before these irresistible little packets disappeared forever into our tummies. Well, contents of the packets, I mean.

Ingredients
For the dough/batter:
Equal quantities (say ¼ cup each) of par-boiled rice and plain white rice
pinch of salt

For the filling:
For each cup of Chakka Varatti, use approximately ½ cup of grated coconut, or more to taste
Jaggery, optional, add to taste (I don't like the filling cloyingly sweet)

Steaming apparatus, Plantain/banana leaves cut into about 5"-6" squares approximately
Some oil

Preparation

1. Batter/Dough: Soak the rice in water for a few hours, grind to a fine paste, add a pinch of salt and keep handy, no need to ferment it like dosai batter. Note: the consistency of the dough is slightly thinner than pancake or dosai batter
2. Filling: Combine the Chakka Varatti and grated fresh coconut in a pan and stir till well incorporated
3. Gently heat the banana leaf over open flame to make them pliable, they will turn a darkish green, take care not to burn
4. Grease the piece of banana leaf with some oil, spread a bit of the rice dough/batter
5. Keep a piece of banana leaf handy for arranging the filling: scoop and drop a dollop of filing, carefully pat it down over the banana leaf, invert this over the other banana leaf with the batter spread on it and transfer the filling onto the dough carefully
6. Carefully fold the assembled Elai Adai into a packet
7. Prepare as many packets as possible with available ingredients and arrange them in a steamer; steam for about 10 minutes; the rice dough/batter will look almost translucent when done, with the rich brown filling showing through
8. Unwrap the banana leaf and pop these steamed delicacies into the mouth for an amazing experience

Chakka Varatti: Jackfruit Jam

Chakka, aka Jackfruit, is one of my favorites. This Chakka Varatti is my mom's specialty. My dad simply calls it Jackfruit Jam and that is basically what it tastes like.

Jackfruit is probably not easily appealing to all on account of its strong odor, size-and-shape, and its spiky exterior.

I love whole Jackfruit - everything about it appeals to me - the impressively huge tree, the way the fruits hang in the tree, the spiky green exterior skin, the sticky fibers which are quite useful as glue, and of course the sweet yellow flesh.

My aunts in Hyderabad and Vizag both have Jackfruit trees in their backyard. I feel they are so spoilt sometimes they don't even harvest the fruits... they are quite generous to let the neighbors take the whole ripe jackfruits away during peak season as it is hard to keep up with the bounty.


Anyway, I couldn't let the opportunity pass when I spotted a roadside vendor sitting with a pile of whole jackfruits somewhere in interior south when we were on a road trip recently. The vendor sold the whole fruit, which was about a foot-long and ¾ foot-wide and weighed maybe five kilos, for about 75Rs, am not sure if that is a reasonable local price, but, it seemed worth it.

I like to eat it as-is, but, I wasn't sure if my stomach was up to handling the raw fruit at the rate at which I was consuming them. So, my mom decided to make this Chakka Varatti which can be stored in the fridge or freezer for months at a stretch, and used to make Elai Adai , Chakka Pradaman (recipe to come soon) and other delicacies.

When we were little, we would bring home a whole fruit, once or twice during peak season (March through June), which we would cut, clean and pick out the fleshy sweet chunks, remove the seeds inside and even cook the seeds. But, most vendors do the cleaning and sprucing, and simply sell the flesh ready-to-eat.

Since this is my mom's recipe, and since she doesn't believe in measuring anything accurately, the quantities are approximate.

Preparation:

Basically, pressure cook the jackfruit flesh and smush it to a smooth pulp in a blender or food processor. Simmer this pulp with jaggery or brown sugar in a large pan, the amount is roughly:
1 cup brown sugar per cup of smushed jackfruit pulp. Stir continuously over medium-low heat till it thickens to a spreadable jam consistency and comes together without sticking to the pan.

Allow to cool and store in the fridge in an air-tight container.

Idi Chakkai

Idi Chakkai is a comfort food for me, with pepper rasam and pain hot rice. Idi Chakkai feels wholesome, yet simple. It is made with young green jackfruit. My mom only made it a few times a year, around The Jackfruit Season, as it was labor-intensive to chop, clean and pound the green jackfruit.

(probably where the name of this dish comes from: Idi is to pound, and Chakkai is jackfruit => pounded jackfruit)

But now that canned young green jackfruit is readily available year-round, this recipe takes less than 10 minutes to put together, and uses just 4 ingredients in its simplest form - green jackfruit, coconut, chilies, salt.

Tempering is optional, and adds a nice touch to this simple dish.

Nendran Pazham is a variety of plantain/banana that happens to be my favorite. I haven't found it here yet. But, Burro Bananas, when ripe, get a similar texture, smell and color like nendran, even though they taste a little different and are much smaller in size compared to the nendrans I used to relish.

To add a simple dessert, boil the burro bananas (skin on), in some water mixed with brown sugar, till it is soft but not mushy; then, peel the cooked banana and enjoy as a dessert. This is basically the same procedure my mom used to cook nendran pazham and serve it up as snack or dessert for us when we were little.

Ingredients:
2 cans young green jackfruit, (comes packed in water), drained
¼ cup dry grated coconut
1 jalapeño, chopped
salt to taste
6-8 curry leaves (optional)
tempering: 1 Tbsp canola oil, 1 tsp urad dal, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp cumin seeds

Preparation

combine the young green jackfruit chunks and jalapeño in a blender or food processor and pulse a little - just to break them down a little, not too fine

tempering: heat oil in a pan, add the urad dal, when it turns golden brown add the mustard seeds and when they pop add the cumin seeds and let them plump up a little; turn down heat so as not to burn the urad dal; add the curry leaves

add the green jackfruit and jalapeño mixture, dry grated coconut, some salt to taste and stir well; cook over medium heat, stirring on and off till well-combined

Serve warm with simple roti, or, rice and pepper rasam.


Even though this dish leaves very little room for variations, this recipe here is just a tad different from the last time I made it about 3 months ago. This is my 'I' dish for Nupur's A to Z of Indian Vegetables event.

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p.s: Following a note from Nupur, I just wanted to add that canned young green jackfruit I use is available at most Asian stores in my area - perhaps it is available in Indian stores as well, am not sure.

green jackfruit curry

 

My mom used to make many dishes out of young green jackfruit during the jackfruit season. But, this was not one of them. My mom's recipes are more traditional. This curry recipe here is sort of made-up as I wanted something quick. Since I get canned green jackfruit pretty much year round, this recipe is a favorite as it is easy to throw together in under 20 minutes.


Ingredients
1 20oz can young green jackfruit, packed in water
½ 14oz can coconut milk
½ 14 oz can diced tomatoes with chilies
2 Tbsp garam masala powder
1 Tbsp cayenne pepper powder (adjust to taste)
½ tsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp canola oil
salt to taste
1 head broccoli, florets, plus stalk sliced thin
1 medium onion diced
1 medium potato,diced
1 medium green bell pepper, diced
chopped cilantro for garnish

Preparation

1. wash, drain and chop the green jackfruit into bite-size pieces
2. heat oil in a pan, add the onion, bell peppers and a pinch of salt, sauté over medium-high heat till onions turn brown
3. add the potatoes and broccoli stalk, a little water, cover and cook till they are crisp-tender
4. add the diced tomatoes, green jackfruit, broccoli florets, garam masala powder, brown sugar, cayenne pepper powder, coconut milk, some water, a pinch of salt; cover and simmer on medium-low till curry gets thick and rich
5. off heat, adjust salt to taste, garnish with cilantro; serve warm with basmati rice