Bread Fruit Shallow Fry (Jeev Kadgi Phodi)

Bread Fruit Shallow Fry (Jeev Kadgi Phodi)

Konkani cuisine adores breadfruit. It is one of the best veggies to be shallow fried & deep fried. Summer is when these veggies are available in abundance in Karnataka. And Konkani households deep fry or shallow fry breadfruit, atleast once every week since Ugadi. That's how much we Konkani's love this veggie. :-) These shallow fried, deep fried breadfruit fritters are amazingly delicious, pillowy soft & creamy. They are fondly called jeev kadgi phodi in Konkani. Jeev kadgi means bread fruit in Konkani and phodi refers to shallow fried or deep fried veggies in Konkani. 

In Konkani cuisine, 'jeev khadi phodi' are prepared in many ways (breadfruit is shallow fried & deep fried in many ways). Deep fried breadfruit fritters are prepared mainly two ways, using an easy, simple gram flour batter and using a spicy rice batter. Breadfruit is also deep fried to make salted, crispy, breadfruit chips and to make yummy, salty breadfruit fritters. 

Breadfruit is shallow fried in many ways too. Breadfruit is coated with a spicy rice batter and is shallow fried. Salted breadfruit is coated with red chilli powder and is shallow fried to make yummy, spicy phodis. The tastiest breadfruit fritter (jeev kadgi phodi) is made by shallow frying them with spiced semolina. They are also called as rava fry in India, rava meaning semolina. That's how majority of us cook breadfruit at home. It's a Konkani cuisine favourite. I also shallow fry, plain salted breadfruits to get them sweet, super crispy on shallow frying.

Konkani cuisine uses breadfruit in many more ways. We use breadfruit to make coconut based curries with green peas called as gashi/ghasi/ghashi in Konkani. We make a spicy, sweet stir fry of breadfruit, called as jeev kadgi upakari in Konkani. We also make a masala based dry side dish called as sukke in Konkani, using breadfruit. Breadfruit is also used in various, Konkani cuisine, coconut based curries like valval & gajbaj ambat along with other veggies.


Here’s a simple recipe to make pillowy soft, creamy, delicious, shallow fried, bread fruit. It's also called rava fry in India, called as jeev kadgi phodi in Konkani. This is a Konkani cuisine favourite & is by far the best way to cook & enjoy breadfruit. Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:

  • Half medium sized breadfruit - We need about 10-12 slices.
  • 1 cup semolina - small/medium sized semolina (bombay rava/chiroti rava/kesari rava should do)
  • 2 tablespoons of red chilli powder
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 cup oil for shallow frying

Serves: 3-4

Preparation Time: 25 minutes


Breadfruit that's best suited to be shallow fried, to make jeev kadgi phodi:

Breadfruit that’s too tender or is half mature won’t cook well, it won't get soft & pillowy on cooking. They are not best suited to be shallow fried. So, pick those breadfruits that are almost or fully mature. You know it by looking at the size of the hexagons on the bread fruit peel. Fully mature breadfruits have the biggest sized hexagons on their peel. 

Breadfruit shallow fry tastes best when the breadfruit is fresh. You get to enjoy awesome, pillowy soft, breadfruit phodi when breadfruit is fresh & is just off the tree. :) Yup, that's true. After a day, it dries up with time, the awesome softness of breadfruit is lost. And they definitely don't get pillowy soft on cooking, once they've been stored in the fridge. So, use them while they're fresh to make jeev kadgi phodi.

In all taste, softness and texture of shallow fried breadfruit depends on how mature, good, and fresh the breadfruit is.


 Preparation Method:

  1. Peel the breadfruit. Chop off the excess inner core portion of the breadfruit. Then chop it into slices of 1/2 - 1 inch thickness. 

Thickness and shape of the slices is a personal preference. If the slices are thick then they'll take a little longer to cook but they get pillowy soft, creamy on cooking. If they are thin, they'll cook faster but will have to be cooked with care, so as not to overcook them & make them hard.

2. Add salt, give the slices a good toss and keep them aside for 10 minutes.

3. Meanwhile in a bowl, mix semolina, a pinch of salt and red chilli powder.

4. Heat up a frying pan.

5. Add breadfruit slices into the semolina mixture one by one and roll them, such that they are uniformly coated by semolina all around.

6. Place them one by one on the heated frying pan. Shallow fry these semolina coated breadfruit slices on both sides using oil. 

7. To do that, drizzle oil at the bottom of each slice. Fry them closed with a lid on, on medium heat for 3 minutes.

8. Flip all the slices, add oil at the bottom of each slice again. Cook them closed on medium flame for 3 minutes, or until they are cooked through.

Please do not keep flipping the pieces around. They then tend to get hard on the outside.

9. Insert a knife inside one of the pieces to check if they are cooked through. If the knife passes through easily, the pieces are well cooked.

If the breadfruit isn't fresh, it may not cook fast and get pillowy soft on cooking. If you're having a hard time getting the breadfruit well cooked & soft, drizzle a handful of water all around the phodis/pieces and cook them closed for 2-3 more minutes. A little water content aids their cooking.

10.  Once cooked, remove them off the frying pan immediately, or they tend to get hard on the surface exposed to heat.

11. Serve them hot as a side dish/starter for lunch, dinner and enjoy!


Find more fritter (bajo, phodi) recipes here.


Tags: Breadfruit, jeev kadgi phodi, shallow fry, Konkani cuisine, Konkani recipe, Konkani food, Udupi Cuisine, Mangalore food, Ganesh chaturthi, bachelor recipe, ugadi

Chauthi