Chakka puzhukku (Raw jack fruit dish)

Chakka Puzhukku (ചക്ക പുഴുക്ക്)

Let me start on lighter note today... Have you seen  an episode of M80 Moosa titled 'chakka viplavam' (or jack fruit revolution) ? If not, watch it here. It is a funny anecdote of a woman trying to reintroduce the jack fruit into the daily menu of a modern family.

On a serious note, have you ever wondered what alternate food items other than rice kept the previous generations going ? If you ask anybody from Kerala, you will get two items, that is jack fruit and tapioca. You can prepare main dishes with both these items. In today's post, let me describe how to make a main dish with jack fruit, traditionally known as 'chakka puzhukku' or raw jack fruit with coconut and spices.

What is special about this dish is that, you can use this as a main dish or even a side dish with rice. On the downside, it will take a lot of effort to get the raw jack fruit cleaned and ready for preparation.

Ingredients

1) Raw jack fruit                    Half of a medium sized jack fruit
2) Coconut                               1 cup
    Green chilly                          3 no
    Small onion                          4 no
    Garlic                                    2 no
    Cumin seeds                         one pinch
    Turmeric powder                   as needed
    Salt                                            ,,

Method of Preparation (chakka keenthi vevichathu)

Clean the jack fruit and get only the edible part. You need to get the  fleshy part, remove the seeds and slice into small thin pieces. If you have never done with it, do not try it alone, it can become messy. Also if you do not cut it properly (against the length of the flesh versus along the length) you will not get the right results. In this preparation you will have to slice it along the length of the fleshy part. Put the sliced pieces in to one vessel with  little water add keep it on the flame. When steam comes, mix the contents well so that the bottom portion contents come up. To this add ingredients listed under (2) after moderately grinding all of them together. Keep it on the low flame for some more time. The aroma will tell you when it is ready. After that switch off the flame, mix all the contents together with a wooden spoon until the items under 2 are uniformly mixed.

Note:chakka arinju vevichathu
Chakka puzhukku can be made in  another way as well. In that case do not add any turmeric powder or chilly and use more amount of coconut and water than above dish. Even cutting the fleshy part is in a different style, where it is cut into round shape against the length. The method of preparation is the same. But you serve it along with a coconut chutney or nadan chicken curry.

Puliyinchi

Puliyinchi (പുളിയിഞ്ചി)

 In Malayalam 'puli' means tamarind and 'inchi' means ginger. So as you would have guessed, 'puliyinchi' is a combination of tamarind and ginger with some jaggiri added in order to counter the spiciness of ginger. It is used as pickle and the taste is so good with a combination of hot chillies, spicy ginger, sour tamarind and sweet jaggiri.

Ingredients:

1)Ginger                 250 gram (peel off the skin and cut in to small pieces);
Small Onion           200 gram (cut in to small pieces);
Green chilly           6 nos (cut in to small pieces);

2)Red chillies (dry)  4 nos, cut in to small pieces;
Mustard                    1 tsp;
Curry leaves             1 spring;
Coconut oil               2 tbsp;

3)Chilli powder        1 tsp;
Turmeric powder     as needed;

4)Tamarind            One ball of egg size;

5)Jaggiri (molten paste)      As needed;

6)Salt                As needed;

Method of preparation:
Heat some oil in a clay pot, and add mustard. When they start sputtering add curry leaves and dry red chillies (vattal mulaku) pieces, stir well. To this add items under 1 (ginger, small onion and green chillies) and salt, continue stirring till its color turns brown. Add items under 3 (chilli powder and turmeric powder) to this mixture, stir well. Mix tamarind water and salt with this and stir well. In the end, add jaggiri mixture (item number 5). Allow the preparation to cool.