Saturday, February 19, 2011

Jacky Chips


Jacky is a familiar fruit for us in Kerala because it grows mostly uninvited in the backyards of Kerala households. a totally non fuss fruit ready to lend its sweetness and goodness to all and sundry. while many of us love the fresh fruit and the seeds fried in oil and coconut slices, we do shun the strong and stubborn smell it exudes. people tend to ignore this benign infinitely buxom fruit (one fruit can weigh as much as 45 kg!) and i've seen it rotting in many a backyard.

Jackfruit is the national fruit of Bangladesh. it is predominantly found in Asia and the tropical lowlands of Brazil and Africa. it has a tough prickly skin which is studded and rough. you cut open and find a mesh of events within. the fibrous mass are the rags and enmeshed are the fleshy bulbs which enclose the seed. the seed is covered by a light yellow membrane which can be fried and eaten and it tastes very good.

Jacky is rich in protein, carbs, vitamins, potassium, phytonutrients all of which help the health wisely.

The raw fruit is fried as in the pic and steam cooked like kappa vevichathu. so when my mum sent me a portion of the big fruit by Air India along with some fried chips it was my first time cutting it up!  i quite liked it and i like such messy stuff...it's nice to see the filth clearing away..i threw off the bark, sectioned the fruit out carefully and scooped the seeds. had the bulbs fresh and fried the seeds, slicing them fine, boiling, draining and frying them in coconut oil with curry leaves, crushed garlic and shallots, turmeric and chilli powders, pepper and salt.

To make jacky chips you got to cut them fine (as in the pic). heat oil nicely. reducing the flame only a wee bit put them in, and they sizzle. add salt to it two-three mins later. take them out of oil before they brown. put them back again and jiggle them in the oil before lifting them out finally. this last step makes the chips crunchier and crispier.

There's a whole range of snacks and sweets that we make out of it like halwa, varattu, ada, thiyal...my mum in law makes them all...not me, oh yea!!


30 comments:

Suja Manoj said...

Makes me nostalgic,when you said grows uninvited and rotting in many backyards I feel sad.. I saw Chakka once in Asian market and when I saw the price,I nearly fainted:)

Suchitra Vaidyaram said...

oh Jack fruit chips are my favorite! Love em

Elisabeth said...

What an interesting fruit, that I have never seen here, in S. Florida. I would not mind paying the price for it, if they sold it here, just to try it out. We have the same situtation with the Florida mangos. People actually come knocking on our doors to see if we want to get rid of some mangos, they will come in our yard to pick them!

Indu said...

jackfruits back in season already?? should get some chips when I go home.....

veena said...

love these chips. Thanks for the comment in my crafts blog. I will spend more time with that too. Guess i neeeded a lil push :-)

Toni (Boulder Locavore) said...

Hi Thoma! So love reading about new foods that we cannot get readily here. Makes you appreciate a chance find at a market somewhere (turns into a scavenger hunt for me). Thanks for introducing us! Like your new blog header too!

Chef Dennis Littley said...

I have to admit I have never tasted let alone seen that fruit. I will have to look in our asian markets as they do carry a different selection.
I would love to try it someday
thanks for teaching us about them
Dennis

Tahemeem said...

Thats an interesting recipe.. i love jackfruit as such and am sure will love this chips :)
Ur blog is so colorful and i loved going thru it... thanks a lot for stopping by my blog... :)

Stephanie said...

How very interesting! I have never had or seen a jackfruit. I am so curious!

I am slowly putting work back on line...I have moved it here...www.flickr.com/photos/stramontozzi_portfolio/ :)

Priya dharshini said...

Luv to c ur blog with true colors of kerala....happy blogging

Preety said...

jack fruit chips..amazing..perfect for tea time

Mrs K said...

wow...I wish India was exporting more of this to our part of the world,I hardly see any here,and I know how good this tastes,infact I always thought this was the closest to eating meat for vegetarians who avoid meat due to religious reasons.I have yet to try the chips...I will have to look for them next time I am in an Indian grocery store :)

shabunam said...

Oh my god !! I am craving for some chakka varthathu right now .....

Ela said...

Hi Thoma! i love your posts. we almost have the same food available, coconuts, bananas, jackfuits!
just to let you know, got 5 jack fruits that we might be able to pick next week. will definitely try your chips.

Anna's Table said...

How interesting, I've never heard of jackfruit before reading your post. I'm interested to see if there are any Asian stores in Montreal which carry the fruit. Thanks for sharing.

the Junkie book said...

thank you suja, suchi, toni, chef dennis, julie/julia, preety, priya, steph and anna.

elisabeth: oh well, tht's impressive. not in india. there's marginal food scarcity but a lot of it rots in warehouses. so bravo to those guys who come knocking with florida mangoes!!

indu: guess so. we never bother to do these ourselves right??

veena: thank you. there you go, a BIG push!!

steph: i saw it. keep uploading. why don you submit it as news in foodbuzz?

kavita: oh jacky mock meat! well, we generally have it with meat or fish, i mean the raw cooked ones...:P

shabunam: well, four days from then i hope your craving has subsided ;P

ela: yay, so good to have you back. wht do you normally do with them? 5 is a lot.

ami: thank you so much. will pick it up soon.

Preety said...

hey thanks for stopping by regarding the Paneer Butter Masala recipe
Due to plagiarism i have to do that..but you can visit my blog anytime to try the recipe..

here is the link..
(http://preetyskitchen.blogspot.com/2009/08/panner-butter-masala.html)

thanks

the Junkie book said...

OK preety. thanks and so next time i want a recipe from your blog i holler out.........

Sally - My Custard Pie said...

I've never had a fruit chip. I sometimes see these in our supermarket so will try them next time.

A little bit of everything said...

i have to admit I've never tasted not seen such fruit but i'm so happy you wrote about it. I'd love to try it one day.

shabunam said...

You have an award waiting for you , go here for the details http://yumanddelish.blogspot.com/2011/02/blueberry-pancakes-with-maple-cinnamon.html

Yoboy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
G Mathew George said...

I like and agree with YoBoy's comment. Make it bachelor recipes!

Krithika Srinivasan said...

Suuuper Duuuuuuuuper Chakka Chips! Love then soooooooo much! My favorite :)

Torviewtoronto said...

delicious snacks

Hani said...

Hi,
you have a very informative blog with recipes that are unique..
Nice blog
Love
Hani
http://craftionary.blogspot.com

Ela said...

hi thoma. i tried to make the chips. it wasnt crispy. in fact it stuck together. i used riped jackfruit, was that the culprit?

the Junkie book said...

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, yes. ripe becomes a glop. i'd mentioned the raw ones are fried as in the pic...i shd've mentioned again in the next para...i mean repeated it.
how much precious fruit was wasted??

Unknown said...

The fruit is my fav....not a glop but the just ripe and perfect one!....love them and miss them a lot!
Smitha
Smitha's Spicy Flavors

Dreams of cakes said...

I never heart of this fruit before. Very interesting. Thanks for sharing!