JAckfruit Preserve / chakka varatti / chakka varattiyathu recipe /ചക്ക വരട്ടിയത്

A very Good Morning friend !

Jackfruit or Chakka or kathal ,is considered as one of the super food of today's time. They are abundantly found in southern part of indian and used extensively in various Indian cuisine. . The jackfruit fruit and the seeds are been used in various recipes. In olden times, because they didn't had refrigerators ,they cook up preserves and used to save it and made use of it in many other traditional recipes ..some including Chakka pradaman (Payasam /Kheer) , Unniappam etc recently people have been creative enough to use it in cakes, pancakes and basically in everything & anything !

If you agree,most of the times we try to link stuff to our childhood. I have such memory of my granny saving the jackfruit ,during our summer break trip to our native. Just the aroma of the fruit takes me back to my memory lane. Also the leaf is shaped in a way that it is used as spoon to drink stew or kanji. Ahhh those were the day :(

Ingredients :-

1) JackFruit 1/2 or 1/4 ( You can take as much you want)

2) Jaggery 1 Cup ( Depending upon the size of jackfruit you can double the jaggery)

You can do taste test the preserve towards the end to see if the sweetness would be enough .

3) Ghee 1 Tsp

4) Cardamom Powder 1 Tsp

* You will need :- Non stick pan ( Optional ) / Any pan

Blender / Mixer to grind .

A air tight container

Method :-

1) You will need a ripe jackfruit for this preparation .

* How to know when the jackfruit is ripe ?

->First way :- If you poke the outer prickly portion with your index finger & feel its little soft enough.

Second way :- The ripe banana aroma is too strong and it gets stronger and stronger the each day. That's when you know its ready !

After cutting you will notice the color of flesh /fruit is golden yellow , and that is when it is ripe enough to eat .

If you cut it and not find the color to be golden yellow , you can still make preserve the same way as mentioned Or any jackfruit curry recipe on internet. The other jackfruit recipes will be shared in future.

1) Always make sure to apply oil all over your hands. I have used coconut oil.

With a sharp big knife and cut it into half ( get a helper if you not sure how to go about or get a grown up ) , just as you would cut a watermelon .

And cut that half into another half . And the other half , you can save it to use later .

With a newspaper or a wooden stick or kitchen towel (paper), wipe out all the latex ( which is the sticky gluey liquid)

2) Remove and throw the center core. You can check the video on top ,if you not sure how to cut.

( Also i remember my grannys neighbor who had cows , they used to come gather all these discarded outer green portion & center core , to feed the cattle ) .

The above pic of jackfruit is from internet :- www.specialityproduce.com.

3) Now remove only the flesh / fruit . Its always a good idea to give it a wash and drain all the water, just to make sure no foreign particle is sticking to it.

SEEDS can be saved for later use , to make curry.

4) Now GRIND only the flesh (NOT SEEDS) without adding any water into smooth paste.

5) You can use a non stick pan .Just in case you are not a very good cook , as this will need continues sautéing & to avoid sticking to the pan .

Add the paste in the pan and keep sautéing continuously for good 10-15 on medium to high flame and then add JAGGERY preferably in a powdered form , so it melts quickly. - 1 cup

6) Keep Mixing and add 1 Tsp of CARDAMOM powder . Sauté for another 10-15 mins, you will notice a the paste turning into dark color.

Disclaimer :- the preserve will be very hot , but you can do a taste test using a bit from the spatula and if it need more sweetness, you can add extra jaggery and sauté until it melts.

It doesn't matter if it turns to be over sweet ( as jackfruit in itself is very sweet) , because anyway the preserve will be used in very little quantity in various recipe and one can always adjust the sweetness in those recipes.

7) Add 1 Tsp of GHEE , and sauté until the color is as dark and rich as shown in the video and gets super thick.

8) Keep it out 8-12 hrs until it cool down completely & then transfer it in a air tight container and freeze it in FREEZER for 1 year , without getting spoiled.

*** Make sure there is no water in the spoon or the container , wipe all the water if any.***

And thaw whenever you need & how much you need and put it back in Freezer for next recipe.