Raw jackfruit or pacha chakka or kathal is a superfood. Chakka podi(raw jackfruit powder) is a healthy replacer for carbs and also the dried pieces can be used all year throughout. These dried pieces can be used to make upperi(kootan) after soaking for 3-4 hours. If you stay in a place away from Kerala then this is a healthy choice to keep dried jackfruit pieces ready at hand and can be used anytime. As jackfruit(chakka) is a seasonal fruit so this may not be available always in Kerala too so can be dried and be used. Raw jackfruit is way more healthier than the ripe jackfruit. Its good for diabetics to reduce the glycemic load and it also has more soluble fibers thereby reducing the cholesterol. This also prevents colon cancer says research and is a low acid veggie.
The whole idea behind making this podi(powder) is that this powder has a neutral taste and can be added to any of the Indian meals like upma, rotis, parathas, idlis or dosas without noticing or tasting any much taste difference. This has more soluble fibers and the calories are much less compared to the grains. This podi is made by using the mature raw jackfruits or else may not taste good. This dry preserve has very low glycemic index compared to that of rice and wheat. We get the raw jackfruit powder these days in supermarkets too but when in season you get so much fresh jackfruit that we can sun dry and use. Bookmark this up and save for your future.
So last year onwards, I started sun drying the raw jackfruit and this way the dried jackfruit pieces can be stored a year long outside at room temperature. I still have my last year's batch still fresh in air tight containers. There is no particular recipe to preserve the jackfruit. The procedure is quite simple but we need good sunlight for the initial 3 days else the pieces may get fungus. So be careful with that part rest everything is taken care of quick and easy. Do give this a try if you would love to preserve jackfruits this way, its a keeper :)
Preparation time ~ 1 hour
Cooking time ~ 10 minutes
Sun dry ~ 3 -4 days
Author ~ Julie
Ingredientsraw jackfruit 1 whole cleaned
Method
- Clean the raw jackfruit by cutting it open, clean the sap using a chakiri or cheratta (coconut shell). Then cut small portions of the jackfruit, cut and remove the center portion to which the bulbs are attached bulbs alone. Remove the seed in each and then chop the bulbs small.
- In a steamer, add enough water and place the plate. Add the chopped jackfruit in the plate and steam cook for 5-7 minutes until slightly wilted.
- Remove the wilted jackfruit from stove and then spread on clean cloth. Spread evenly and keep under the sun till its completely dry. It may take 4-5 days to get super crisp pieces, keep it spread evenly on the cloth even during night time under the fan in especially the initial 2 days of sun drying. The pieces may turn sticky with the moisture and go bad.
- Store in air tight containers and powder as much as and when required or a small batch to store as needed.
- The powder may not stay good for long but the dried chopped pieces can be stored over a year.
- You can even make chakka kootan(chakka upperi) or chakka vevichathu using these dry ones. Soak this dry jackfruit for about 30 minutes and use.
NOTES
*Check out my chakka podi idli recipe shared.
* Also remember to powder the dried jackfruit pieces in small batches so that the freshness remains.
* Use mature raw jackfruit for this process and not ripe ones. Ripe ones may not dry up properly.
* I just warmed up the dry pieces again once in the whole year to just extend the shelf life. Take care to place in a dry plate when sun drying again else the product may go bad.
Please check out the below links of few basic recipes, if interested-
OR Check out this page here for more basic recipes.
Dried jackfruit powder? Didn't even know there's such a thing exist until now. I have learned something new today.
ReplyDeleteJulie this is new to me..great idea!
ReplyDelete