Raw Jackfruit Sukka/Dry Masala Recipe (Kadge Chakko)

Raw Jackfruit Sukka/Dry Masala Recipe (Kadge Chakko)

Raw jackfruit is Konkani cuisine's favourite veggie. It is known as Kadgi in Konkani. And kadgi chakko is a very popular Konkani cuisine dish. It is a spicy, dry side dish made using raw jackfruit and is absolutely adored. It is served hot with loads of coconut oil on top and is a crowd pleaser. 

Come summer and there's jackfruit everywhere in Karnataka. And Konkani's love jackfruit raw and ripened. We can't resist ourselves from using it in every possible way.

Raw jackfruit is used in to prepare various dishes of Konkani cuisine.

  1. Amazingly, yummy raw jackfruit fritters called as kadgi phodi are prepared from raw, tender jackfruit. 
  2. Kadgi gashi, a spicy coconut curry made with raw jackfruit and chickpeas.
  3. Kadgi randayi - a spicy, coconut based curry made with raw jackfruit and fresh green peas or any other pulse.
  4. A yummy raw jackfruit pickle called as kadgi nonche from raw jackfruit. 
  5. Kadgi ambat again is a coconut based curry made with raw jackfruit, lentils and onions.
  6. Kadgi chakko - A dry side dish prepared from tender raw jackfruit. 

And the list goes on. Konkani cuisine uses raw jackfruit in various kinds of preparations. And to our advantage raw jackfruit is available almost throughout the year from the past few years. Unlike before when they were available only during the summers.


Picking raw jackfruit to prepare this side dish - kadgi chakko:

Tender raw jackfruits are best suited to make this dish kadgi chakko. Tender most raw jackfruits to raw jackfruits that aren't fully developed or aren't completely mature will do to make this dish. You know the stage of development raw jackfruit is in by it's size and by looking at the thorns on the peel of raw jackfruit. Tender most raw jackfruits have tiny thorns very close to one another on the peel. As they grow and mature, the thorns grow in size and grow apart.  

Pick raw jackfruits in the pic 1 over raw jackfruits in the pic 2 below: The thorns on the peel of raw jackfruit in pic 1 are an indication that the raw jackfruit is still in its growth and hasn't matured.

Essentially pick raw jackfruit whose seeds inside are still soft and are still growing. Raw jackfruits with hard seeds on the inside would be completely mature jackfruits and won't give you the right texture of the dish. They aren't suitable to be used to make this dish kadgi chakko. 

These raw jackfruits in the pic 1 below are best suited to make kadgi chakko. 

Raw jackfruit below has almost reached its maturity. The thorns on the peel are spaced out and are fully grown.


Watch making of chakko here:

 

 


Ingredients:

  • Half raw jackfruit - about 2 cups of cubed raw jackfruit.
  • 2 cups of grated coconut
  • 7-8 dried red chillies
  • 2 tablespoons of tamarind (2 lemon sized)
  • 2 teaspoons of urad dal
  • 2 teaspoons of coriander seeds
  • 2 tablespoons of jaggery
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 tablespoons of oil

Seasoning:

  • 4 tablespoons of oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon of mustard seeds
  • 2 leaflets of curry leaves
  • 1-2 dried red chillies

Serves: 2-3

Prep time: 30 minutes

Cooking time: 25 minutes

Total time required: 1 hour


For raw jackfruit prep you'll need:

  • A sharp sickle (called as koithi in Konkani) or a sharp knife.
  • Lots of clean newspapers.
  • Coconut oil or any other oil to grease your palm, your knife & cooker.
  • Few bowls to hold chopped raw jackfruits and the discarded skin.
  • Tissue papers

Preparation Method:

Prepping the raw jackfruit:

1. Spread out 3 layers of newspapers on the floor or on your table. It's a pain to later clean jackfruit sap sticking to the floor/table.

2. Apply generous amounts of oil onto your knife/sickle blade and onto your hands to prevent jackfruit gum from sticking to your knife, fingers and hands. 

3. Chop raw jackfruit in the middle into 2 halves, wipe clean the white sap that drips off using a tissue paper.

4. Chop it further into halves. Chop each piece further into halves depending on their size. Clean off the sticky sap using tissue papers. These halves are called as 'shedo' in Konkani. 

If there's excess gum oozing out of the jack fruit, clean it using a paper towel. Or it'll make your chopping board messy and sticky.

5. Chop off the inner, center, ridge portion, but keep a thin layer so that the inner compartments of jackfruit are held together firmly and they don't disintegrate all together.

The inner jackfruit core is the hard, white portion at the top of each piece.

6. Then chop raw jackfruit into cubes and add them into a vessel containing water.

7. Pressure cook them with salt and 1 cup of water for 1 whistle. Do not overcook raw jackfruit. We want soft, well cooked jackfruit.

Add 2 tablespoons of oil while cooking raw jackfruit to help you clean your pressure cooker easily later on. Oil prevents any gum from sticking to your cooker.

Cooked raw jackfruit looks like these:

8. Once cooked, drain all the water and transfer cooked raw jackfruit into a bowl.

9. Smash them a little with your hand to get thin pieces. You can even cut them into thin pieces using a knife.

Preparing the masala:

1. Fry urad dal, coriander seeds, red chillies using few drops of oil in a tempering pan, until the urad dal starts to brown. By then you get aroma of fried coriander seeds and red chillies. Remove off heat and let them cool down completely.

2. Once they cool, grind them along with grated coconut, tamarind, jaggery and little salt(remember you have already added salt to jackfruit while cooking it) into a coarse, very, very, dry masala using as little water as possible.

Preparing chakko:

1. Heat oil in a deep bottomed pan, add in mustard seeds, once they start popping, add in curry leaves, add in dried red chilli cut into small pieces and let them sizzle for few seconds.

2. Then add in ground coarse dry masala, 2 tablespoons of water and mix well. Simmer and cook the masala until it gets very dry. 

3. Then add in pieces of cooked raw jackfruit and mix well.

4. Simmer and cook closed until they combine well and the dish (chakko) gets very, very dry.

5. Add in more salt and jaggery if required. 

6. Saute once in a while to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

7. Remove off heat and serve hot with loads of coconut oil on top along with rice and dalithoy.

Find more Konkani cuisine side dishes here

Tags: Spicy, sukka, dry, side dish, chakko, lunch , dinner, raw jackfruit, kadgi, sukke, Konkani recipe, Konkani dish, Konkani cuisine, Udupi cuisine, Mangalore food, Konkani food, ugadi