Raw Jackfruit Curry (Kadgi Randayi)

Konkani's love for jackfruit is indescribable! Come summer and its jackfruit everywhere! And Konkani cuisine's favourite veggie is used in umpteen number of preparations. Konkani cuisine adores both raw and ripened jackfruit. Both raw and ripened jackfruits are used in every possible way, in tons of preparations.

Raw jackfruit is a seasonal favourite of Konkani's/Konkani cuisine and is used to prepare a number of coconut based curries called as kadgi gashi/randayi (seasoned with mustard seeds), kadgi ambat (made using toor dal & onions) and kadgi kodel (seasoned with garlic) in Konkani. Delicious fritters called as kadge phodi in Konkani, a dry side dish called as kadgi chakko in Konkani are prepared using raw jackfruit. Raw jackfruit is also used to make a variety of spicy pickles, called as kadgi nonche, kadgi adgai in Konkani.

Here's the rceipe for raw jackfruit curry. Called as kadge randayi/kadge ghashi in Konkani & is a very popular Konkani cuisine dish. This raw jackfruit curry (kadgi randayi/gashi) is a spicy coconut based curry made using chickpeas, fresh green peas or using any other pulse like cowpeas, horsegram, moth beans (chouli in Konkani), yellow peas, lima beans, butter beans, avro of different types, tingal avro in Konkani are used. Kadge randayi/gashi is prepared during any and every special occasion, celebration and during festivals in summer. Kadgi in Konkani means raw jackfruit. And randayi/gashi in Konkani means a spicy coconut based curry.

Picking raw jackfruit to prepare this curry - kadgi randayi:

To prepare this curry (kadge randayi) you need tender raw jackfruits. Very tender raw jackfruits to raw jackfruits that aren't fully developed will do to make this curry. 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. And that comes with experience. Tender most raw jackfruits have tiny thorns very close to one another on the peel. As they grow, mature, the thorns grow in size and grow apart.

Pick raw jackfruits in pic 1 compared to 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 it's growth and hasn't matured.

Mature raw jackfruits too can be used to make this curry but pick raw jackfruit whose seeds inside, haven't started to harden. Raw jackfruits with hard seeds on the inside would be completely mature jackfruits. They aren't suitable to be used in this curry.

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

This raw jackfruit below has almost reached it's maturity. The thorns on the peel are spaced out and are fully grown.

You can prepare kadgi gashi using fresh green peas or using white/black chickpeas or using any other pulse like cowpeas, horsegram, moth beans (chouli in Konkani), yellow peas, lima beans, butter beans, avro of different types, tingal avro in Konkani. Here goes the recipe to make a delicious raw jackfruit curry:

Ingredients:

1/4 of medium sized raw jackfruit (about 2 cups of cubed raw jackfruit)
1/2 cup fresh green peas/white/black chickpeas or any other pulse of your choice.
1 cup of grated coconut
6-7 dried red chillies
1 lemon sized tamarind
1/4 teaspoon of mustard seeds
Salt to taste
1/4 teaspoon of oil

For seasoning:

2 tablespoons of oil
1/2 teaspoon of mustard seeds
2 leaflets of curry leaves

Serves: 2-3

Total preparation Time: 50 minutes

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

Method Of Preparation:

Prepping 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 raw jackfruit, 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 raw 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 bowl 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 jackfruits looks like these:

8. Transfer cooked raw jackfruit along with the stock used to cook it, into a cooking vessel.

9. Meanwhile pressure cook fresh green peas separately in a pressure cooker with 1 cup of water and salt for just a whistle.

10. If you're using chickpeas, soak them overnight to fasten their cooking. If you forget to soak them the previous night then you can add hot boiling water and keep them aside for 30 minutes to few hours (depending on time you have) to accelerate the process of soaking. This trick applies to all whole grains like dried peas, black eyed peas, green gram and any other pulse. They'll be ready for cooking in half an hour. The longer you soak them, the faster they'll cook.

11. Pressure cook chickpeas/any other pulse you're using, until done, for about 3-4 whistles using 1.5 cups of water. Do not add salt while pressure cooking pulses, they won't cook.

12. Add cooked chickpeas/green peas/pulse you're using, along with the stock used to cook them, into the cooking vessel containing cooked raw jackfruit.

13. Meanwhile get the coconut masala for the curry ready.

Preparing the masala:

14. Fry dried red chillies for 1-2 minutes or till fragrant in a tempering pan. Add few drops of oil to aid the frying process.

15. Allow fried red chillies to cool down completely and then grind them along with 1/4 teaspoon of mustard seeds, grated coconut, tamarind and salt into a fine paste using just enough water as required.

16. Transfer this ground masala into the cooking vessel containing cooked raw jackfruit and chickpeas and mix well.

17. Add about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of water if required to bring the consistency of the curry to that of a gravy consistency. The consistency of this curry is usually thick.

Also, the curry thickens with time, so you can keep it a little watery in the beginning.

18. Check and adjust salt. Bring the curry to boil.

19. Once the curry comes to boil, simmer the curry for few minutes until the rawness of the masala goes off. Then remove it off heat.

Seasoning:

20. Heat oil in a tempering pan, add in mustard seeds. When they begin to splutter, add in curry leaves and let them sizzle for few seconds.

21. Remove it off heat and add this seasoning to the curry and mix well.

22. Serve the curry hot with a bowl of steaming hot rice.

Side note: If you need extra thick curry like the one that's served in temples during functions, marriages and festivals then you can do one of the 3 things below:

a. Add few rice grains while grinding the masala.
b. Add rice flour to the curry and mix well such that there are no clumps of rice flour in the curry.
c. Add few cooked chickpeas to the masala while grinding it.

For more Konkani cuisine curry recipes look here.

Tags: Kadgi, kadge randayi, coconut curry, raw jackfruit, Konkani dish, Konkani recipe, Konkani cuisine, lunch, dinner, Udupi cuisine, Mangalore food, kadgi gashi, kadge ghashi, Konkani food, kadgi gashi