The jackfruit has played a significant role in Indian agriculture for centuries.Jackfruit is an aromatic and fleshy fruit. The flesh of the jackfruit is starchy and fibrous, and is a source of dietary fiber. The flavor is similar to a tart banana.It can be eaten ripe, and cooked or uncooked.In Kerala, this fruit is native and is always found in the backyard and its incorporated in different recipes. Keralites always prefer locally and seasonally available ingredients like plantains,mangoes, jackfruits,coconut,tapioca etc. in their regular diet.Variety of delicious dishes can be made using these simple and commonly available ingredients.Although many who eat jackfruit loves it for its delicious taste, quite a few are unaware of the health benefits of jackfruit. It contains vitamin A, vitamin C, riboflavin, calcium, potassium, iron, sodium, zinc and many other nutrients. The seeds of jackfruit also can be used in many delicious curries.Tender jackfruit is used for preparing side dishes and snacks like chips.Ripe jackfruit is naturally sweet with subtle flavoring. It can be used to make a variety of sweet delicacy like cakes, Halwa, desserts, jam and more. Jackfruit Jam/Chakka Varatti is definitely most tasty one among them.Chakka Varatti/Jack fruit jam is made of fully ripe jackfruit pulps along with jaggery and ghee (clarified butter), are boiled and simmer for long time to remove the water content to make a thick jam form. Preparing jackfruit jam is a laborious process and is time consuming at least it takes 5-6 hours. But the outcome of your hard work is for one of the most tongue tingling, sweetest jackfruit jam/chakka varatti.
Traditionally Chakka Varatti/Jack fruit jam is prepared in Uruli (a circular shape vessel made of bell metal) used in Kerala.
INGREDIENTS:
METHOD:- Deseed the bulbs of the jackfruit and chop them into small pieces.Do not touch the gum while cutting the jackfruit, it will glue all your fingers together. You can apply oil in your hands before cutting the jack fruit. Now use coconut fiber, paper towel, or magazine paper and wipe the gum off the fruit. Use as many papers or paper towels as needed but coconut fiber is better.
- Pressure cook the chopped jackfruit pieces with one cup of water for 6-8 whistles or until soft.
- Drain the water from cooked jackfruit and keep it a bowl.
- Allow the cooked jackfruit to cool and grind them in a mixer grinder to get a smooth pulp.
- Heat 1 tbsp of Ghee in a heavy bottomed pan or in wide vessel like "Uruli" add water which we reserve in a bowl and melt jaggery in it to get a thick syrup. Stir it well.
- Use a thick spatula for stirring.
- Now transfer jackfruit pulp to the thick jaggery syrup and allow all the water to disappear stir continuously till it becomes thick and sticky.
- Add ghee little by little and stir continuously over medium-low heat until you get a dark brown colored thick jam.
- You have to stir continuously to prevent jackfruit jam/chakka varatti from sticking to the vessel/Uruli. Once you feel that this is sticking to the bottom of the pan then you can add more ghee.
- Now add dried ginger powder/Chukku and cardamom powder and mix well.
- Remove jackfruit jam/chakka varatti from fire and let it cool to the room temperature.
- Store in an air tight container. Refrigerate it and enjoy.
- Actually I don’t have any hands own experience in the process of jackfruit jam/chakka varatti.Last time when we visited India for summer vacation, My loving mother-in-law and Father-in-law prepared this jackfruit jam/chakka varatti for us. My father – in- law told me that If properly stored it in an air tight container, it can be preserved for more than a year.
- This Chakkavaratti is used as a key ingredient in authentic dishes like Chakka Pradhaman, Kumbilappam and Ela Adai .
- Herer you can see my JackFruit Jam( Chakka Varatty) Payasam/Kheer
