Chakka ada (evening snack with jack fruit)

Chakka ada (ചക്ക അട)

Today I will describe a delicious evening snack that you can make out of the jack fruit. It is called 'chakka ada'. Traditionally the ada is made using banana leaves, as seen in the picture below. The banana leaves add a taste of it's own to the ada. This item is a combination of rice flour with jack fruit. You can prepare the same dish from jack fruit jam (or chakka varattiyahtu) if you have that available with you.

 

The picture below shows chakka varattiyathu.

Ingredients:

Chakka varattiyathu     1 cup (or fresh jack fruit made into a fine paste 1 cup)
Roasted fine rice flour  1 cup
Coconut                        1 cup, grated
Cardamom powder       1 tsp
Cumin seeds powder    1 tsp
Salt                               as needed
Melted jaggery             as needed
Ginger powder             1 tsp

 

Method of preparation

Make a fine paste out of the flesh part of the jack fruit, if you are using fresh fruit. Or else start with the jack fruit jam, warm it a little bit by if you have kept it in the fridge. Add jaggeri syrup and make it loose. Add rice flour to this and mix well. Add coconut and all the other ingredients. Mix well to make a fine smooth dough, make sure that there are no lumps in the mixture. You can add water if necessary, but the dough should not be very loose. The rule of the thumb is that, it should be think enough to hold itself when made into balls.

Place each ball on a piece of banana leaf and flatten it with the fingers to spread it as thin as you can on the banana leaf, fold the banana leaf over and press the ends along the edges to secure the filling. Cook the ada on steam well.

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.