We like to devour the tasteful pulps from a fully ripe jackfruits and discard everything else. But do you know that most parts of a raw unripe jackfruit can be cooked as normal vegetable other than the thorny outer skin?

Here is a simple recipe to make tasty curry from raw unripe jackfruits.

Step 1: Harvest or Buy a Raw Jackfruit

If you have jackfruit tree in your backyard, you can harvest a baby jackfruit or buy one from the vegetable market. A beetle or some insect has damaged the stalk of one of our young baby jackfruit. So I harvested the same to make jackfruit curry.

Step 2: Cut and Remove Thorny Skin

Cut the baby jackfruit in half. The fruit contains a sticky sap. Apply oil on your hands and the knife before cutting
Using an oiled knife, trim away the thorny skin.
Cut the skinned fruit into further small pieces.

Step 3: Remove Center Stalk and Cut Into Cubes

The jackfruit contains a center stalk which is not edible.
Using the knife remove the center stalk from all the pieces
Cut the fruit into small pieces of 3/4 inches in size
Wash and clean the cut pieces and drain out the water

Step 4: Add Turmeric Powder and Salt

Transfer the cut pieces into cooking vessel
Add about two teaspoons of turmeric powder
Add salt a little more than required. Most of the salt will be drained out with the water used for boiling
Mix everything together

Step 5: Boil the Jackfruit Cubes

Add clean water to the vessel so that it submerges all pieces in the vessel
Boil the pieces over medium fire.
You can cover the vessel with a lid during boiling
Check to see if the pieces are completely cooked.

Step 6: Drain Out Water

Once the jackfruit pieces are completely cooked and soft to touch, remove from fire.
Drain out the excess water using a strainer.
Leave the pieces in the strainer for about 15 to 20 minutes so that all excess water drains down.

Step 7: Grated Coconut and Spices

In the meantime grate half a coconut using a coconut grater and keep aside.

Also keep the following spices ready in a small dish

Two teaspoons of red chili powder (Add as per your own taste)
one and half teaspoons of Cumin seed powder
One teaspoon of Fennel seed powder
A pinch of Asafoetida powder

Step 8: Tempering

Heat a tablespoon of any cooking oil in a frying pan
When a oil is hot add a teaspoon of mustard seeds mixed with split black gram lentils
When the mustard seeds start cracking, add a bunch of curry leaves

Step 9: Add Spices

Now you can add the spices to the hot oil in the pan
Mix them well using a ladle till the spices are blended with the oil in the pan.
Add the boiled jackfruit pieces to the pan and mix well

Step 10: Add the Grated Coconut

Add the grated coconut to the pan and mix with the jackfruit pieces.
Check for salt as some of the salt might have been drained out with water. Add if required
Remove from heat and transfer to a serving dish.

The baby jackfruit curry has an excellent taste. You can eat it with rice, chapaties or bread

Introduction: Raw Jackfruit Curry