Idichakka Mezhukkupuratti / Stir fried green jackfruit

There are little houses in Kerala without a Jackfruit tree in their front or back yards.When I was young we had a tree in the back yard and we used to tie long ropes on its woody branches to make the traditional "Onam Swing".My mom used to make a variety of dishes with the "Idichakka",the young green jackfruit and many traditional sweets with the fleshy and tasty fruits.

Venamengil chakka verilum kaykkum...is a famous malayalam proverb, meaning; Hardwork turns anything possible! or Hardwork succeeds!.

Here's a spicy traditional Kerala recipe of the young green vegetable dedicated to the Essence of Kerala Cuisine.

Serves-4,cooking time-30 mins.

Ingredients:

An Idichakka
10 nos Ulli/shallots-crushed
4 flakes of garlic-crushed
2 tbsps oil
1/4 tsp each of mustard seeds and urad dal
2 tsps chilly powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp freshly crushed pepper powder
Salt-to taste
A stalk of curry leaves

Method:

Deskin the chakka.A little difficult job but I found out the easier way of chopping the spines off and hard cutting using "Aruvamanai",the knife of Tamilnadu,wherein both the hands can be used effectively!.

• Make the deskinned chakka into 4 quarters by cutting lengthwise.Remove the excess hard stem in the centre.while doing this,be careful not to chop it off completely.Let a part of it be with the pieces to keep the tender fibres of the vegetable intact.Cut into equal sized cubes.
• Pressure them in enough water to keep soaked along with the turmeric powder and salt.Cook till soft.
• Drain away excess water.Never retain the water as it would be blackish, bitter and has no nutritive value.
• Heat oil in a wide nonstick kadai,splutter mustards,brown the urad dal and add the crushed shallots and garlic.Fry lightly till the aroma fills around.Now add the cooked pieces,chilly and coriander powders.Pour a little water to coat the pieces with the spices.Stir occasionally.Do not close the pan.Add the pepper powder and the curry leaves.Check and add salt if needed.
• Fry till the pieces turn darker and roasted.
• Serve the mezhukkupuratti with rice or chapathi.

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