Fruit of labour …(Jackfruit Stir Fry)

Well the fruit of labour is necessarily not always sweet, it can be tasty also! I am sure everyone is familiar with jackfruit. Raw jackfruit can be made into a delicious stir fry vegetable and the ripe one is very sweet to eat. Raw jackfruit is the one I am going to talk about in this particular blog  and is a very tasty vegetable. It is seasonal and is available in India between the months of March till almost mid may. 

Step I : Prepping the jackfruit

Ingredients

1. Raw Jackfruit – about 2 kg
2. Oil for application to the equipment

Preparing the raw jackfruit for making a stir fry is a task in itself. It has a thorny outer covering which is inedible and is usually a big fruit. As one cuts in to the fruit, a white sap oozes out which is very sticky. Hence, you have to oil all the equipment that you will be using while cutting the fruit like knives, food processors etc. including your hands! Use vegetable oil to grease all the equipment. There is a stalk that runs in the middle of the fruit which is to be discarded. Once the thorny outer skin and the middle stalk is discarded, the rest of the fruit can be finely chopped either with knife or using a food processor to save effort. Remember to soak the uncooked  chopped fruit in water as it tends to turn dark when exposed to air, till you cook it.

Step II : Pre-cook

ingredients

1. Chopped jackfruit above
2. Oil for tempering – 2 tbsp
3. Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
4. Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
5. Asafoetida – 1/2 tsp
6. Green chillies – 4-5

Now that your jackfruit is prepped, which is kind of a major task, we can get on with the actual making of the stir fry. The recipe I am sharing today is my mother-in-law’s and is from Goa. I prefer to give the jackfruit vegetable a quick cook in a pressure cooker or instant pot. Before doing that I like to  give it a light tempering in little oil and the usual cumin and mustard seeds, asafoetida  and season it with salt and coriander powder. I add slit green chillies at this point of time. Add a little bit of water and then pressure cook it for 3-4 minutes in an instant pot or in a pressure cooker till for 3-4 whistles. The reason I prefer to temper and season it before it cooks is that the flavours infuse very well and the end result is tastier.

Step III : Final Cook

ingredients

1. Cooked jackfruit
2. Oil for tempering – 3 tbsp
3. Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
4. Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
5. Asafoetida – 1/2 tsp
6. Curry leaves – 10-15
7. Red chillies -7-8
8. Cashew nuts – 1/2 cup( more the merrier)
9. Salt to taste
10. Coriander seed powder – 2 tbsp
11. Jaggery to taste
12. Grated fresh coconut  – 3/4-1 cup
13. Coriander chopped – 1/2 cup

Once the jackfruit is perfectly cooked, what remains is to season it perfectly. In a reasonable quantity if oil proportional to the quantity of the jackfruit, create a tempering again and this time add curry leaves, mustard and cumin seeds, asafoetida, dried red chillies and finally cashew nuts. Sauté the cashew nuts till they turn golden. Add the cooked jackfruit along. Adjust the seasoning of salt, and coriander powder as per taste. Add jaggery to lightly sweeten it. Fresh grated coconut is very important to be added inside as well as garnish along with fresh chopped coriander. Be generous with the coconut.

Serve the stir fry hot with rotis. My family also likes to garnish it with finely chopped raw onion. You could also serve it with white shallots, which are available in summers and some green chillies on the side. What I love about making jackfruit stir fry is that, it always generates a large quantity as the fruit itself is big. So you get the pleasure of distributing it to your near and dear ones!

Believe me, a little hard work to cut the fruit, goes a long way to make very very tasty dish! Nowadays, good quality canned cooked jackfruit is also available for those who are short of time and also for off season cooking. You can directly go to Step III above for canned jackfruit. Also you could replace jackfruit with groundnuts as well. Raw jackfruits are in season now. So go ahead and give it try! I can assure you that you will not be disappointed !