There were several jackfruit trees embraced by pepper vines in our land when we bought it more than 8 years ago. To add to their number, my husband planted around 25 different varieties of special, grafted jackfruit plants. To my delight, some of them have started to blossom now.
Tender jackfruit on one of our trees
This morning, he brought in a big tender jackfruit for me to make kadgi chakko. It weighed nearly 2 1/2 kilos and would have proved to be too much for the chakko. The thing about tender jackfruit (kadgi in Konkani) is that once cut, it cannot be stored raw for long as the cut portion becomes yellow and starts to turn bitter. So, you have to cut the whole fruit to chunks, boil and drain, before you can store it in your refrigerator. Seeing the size of the fruit, my children asked me to make some fresh hot kadgi podis, which both of them love a lot. The podis, when deep-fried, turned out to be quite delicious. I am sure you will love them too. Do cook and enjoy!
| Prep Time | 30 minutes |
| Cook Time | 30 minutes |
| Servings |
people
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- 825 gm tender jackfruit slices (for cutting instructions, see note)
- 15 gm powdered salt
- 100 gm rice powder
- 2 gm asafoetida powder
- 25 gm hot red chili powder
- 500 ml cooking oil to deep fry
Ingredients
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- Put the tender jackfruit slices into a vessel or pan and pour in enough water to submerge the slices completely. Set on high heat.
- As soon as it comes to a boil, turn down the heat and let blanch for 5 minutes. This process is to get rid of the gumminess of the jackfruit.
- Switch off the heat and drain.
- Transfer the slices to a mixing bowl. Tip in the powdered salt, the asafoetida powder and the chili powder.
- Mix thoroughly with your fingers (take care to wear a glove if you have sensitive skin).
- Tip in the rice powder and mix well, pressing firmly with your fingers so that the rice powder sticks to the slices.
- Set a wok or frying pan on high heat.
- As soon as the oil is hot (it should not smoke), gently slip in the slices one by one, taking care not to overcrowd the wok.
- A minute later, gently turn them over so that both sides get fried uniformly. Go on turning them once every minute.
- At the end of 6 minutes, you can feel the slices getting crisp on the outside, and you can see the fibers fanning out near the core end of the chips.
- Lower the heat and lift out the kadgi podis. Drain off the excess oil. Continue to deep-fry the rest in batches.
- Enjoy your delicious kadgi podis with rice or with rice gruel, or with any other rice dish.
To make kadgi podi, it is best to choose a tender jackfruit of around 25 cm (10-inch) to 30 cm (a foot). You need 6 sheets of old newspapers - two to spread on the cutting board, two for discarding the waste, and a couple for tearing up to crumple and mop up the gum. You will also need a small bowl of cooking oil to grease your palms and also a sharp greased knife to cut the fruit.
Grease your palms with oil. Lay the tender jackfruit on the newspaper and cut breadthwise into halves. Wipe off the oozing gum using crumpled bits of paper. Place a half of the fruit upright on the paper with its cut end down. Slice off the rough skin. Now divide the piece lengthwise into quarters. Carve off the pith (core). After wiping off the gum, cut each quarter breadthwise into uniform slices of around 1 cm (1/3-inch) thickness.
Freshly cut tender jackfruit slices
The prep time given is inclusive of cutting time.
Hi, Girija
I am a foodie and try looking out for recipes coz I’ve 2 fussy eaters at home and that is how I came across your site. Rather than deep frying why don’t you give a try to pan fry these fritters. As you’ve partially cooked the fruit, they shall come out well by pan frying. To make them crispy take sooji + rice flour and add your other dry ingredients. Coat each cooked jack fruit on both sides in this mix and fry either on a cast iron griddle or a non stick pan. They’ll taste awesome.
Thank you, Gummy. I’ll definitely give it a try.