कटहल का अचार - Jackfruit pickle

Jackfruit Pickle / कटहल का अचार 

Jackfruit has a special place in my heart, mind and kitchen. We had a big jackfruit tree in our government bungalow in IAT and It used to give big round (like a foot ball) fruit. It had very less central woody part but thick base with soft fibrous part and soft juicy seeds. It was of very high quality. God bless the previous resident who must have planted it. 

I used to make vegetable, cutlets and pickle. My family used to wait impatiently 😀 for pickle to mature and then it would vanish fast. So I used to make two three batches till the raw jackfruit would last and then the last batch would be biggest as it had to last whole year. 

Now we live in flat, children are busy with their family and pickle has shrunk to one batch for my daughter and one for husband. 

I want to keep my passion alive. 

Preparation Time : - 30 minutes 

Steaming Time : - 15 minutes 

Mixing and other : - 20-25 minutes 

Nutritional Value : - Sometimes enjoy things without bothering about  nutritional value. This pickle is too good so just enjoy😜

Ingredients Required For Jackfruit Pickle: 

• Jackfruit - 500 gm (peeled and made to pieces) or 750 gm with peel 
• Raw mango - 250 gm 
• Fennel seeds - 50gm
• Fenugreek seeds - 15 gm 
• Nigella seeds - 25 gm 
• Yellow mustard ground coarsely - 4 Tablespoons
• Kashmiri red chili powder - 100 gm 
• Whole red chilies - 5-6 or according to the hotness one wants in pickle
• Turmeric powder - 4 Teaspoons
• Asafoetida powder - 2 Teaspoons 
• Salt 6 Table spoons + 2 Teaspoons, or according to taste 
• Mustard oil -  500 ml. If your container is big then requirement may change. 
• Apple cider - 2+4 tablespoon 

Direction For Making Jackfruit Pickle : - 

• Remove the spiky thick peel of jackfruit and cut it to small pieces removing the hard central portion.
• Wash raw mango and cut to long pieces without removing the peel. 
• To the pieces of कटहल /jackfruit add :
• 2 Teapoons of salt 

• 2 Tablespoons apple cider
• 1 Teaspoon Turmeric powder
• Mix nicely
•  Put water in a steamer and let it boil.
• Place the mixture of jackfruit pieces on  steaming plate and place the steaming  plate with jackfruit pieces inside the      steamer. Place the mango pieces on the  top and steam for 15 minutes. 

Kept for steaming 

• The white portion of mango will become soft and translucent. The pieces of jackfruit will become soft enough to break with fingers. Or knife will go through it easily. 

Steamed jackfruit pieces

Just Soft but not mushy 

• Remove the mango pieces and jackfruit pieces and place them on a neat cloth or a plate (separately or together your choice) and keep under sun for an hour so that the top moisture gets evaporated. 

Kept under sun 

After two hours under bright sun 

• Roast fennel seeds, Nigella seeds, Fenugreek seeds on low flame till they attain a light brown color and aromatic flavor starts coming out.
• Roast whole red chillies and with 2Tablespoons of salt. 
•  Grind roasted red chillies and salt coarsely. 

Spices for pickle 

• Mix all spices. 
• Add the above spice mixture to the mixture of mango and jackfruit pieces 

Spices added 

• Mix nicely 

Spices mixture mixed to pickle pieces 

• Add 

1. 3 Teaspoons of Turmeric 
2. 4Teaspoons of Kashmiri red chili powder 
3. Remaining salt 
4. 4 Tablespoons of Apple cider Mix nicely 

Salt, spices all mixed 

• Put it in wide mouth container. Cover and keep under sun for five six hours. Turn the pickle mixture with a dry spoon so that spices are nicely mixed with pieces. 

After keeping the pickle mixture under sun 

• Heat 300 ml mustard oil (do not bring to smoking point) 
•  Let it cool a bit. 
• Add 1 Teaspoon asefotida, and rest of Kashmiri red chili powder. Mix and add to the mixture of jackfruit mango pieces with spices. 

Hot oil with red chili powder and asafoetida 

Oil added 

•   Mix nicely
• Cover and Keep the pickle for two three days in the same wide mouth container under sunlight. 
•  Keep turning pickle at least twice a day with a dry spoon to make sure oil and spices get mixed with pickle pieces evenly. 
•  Fill in a glass jar. Cover and keep under sun for few days. 
•  As per the requirement heat mustard oil cool it and top up the pickle with oil. 
•  Let it mature for at least a month. The spices and mango flavor will get incorporated in jackfruit pieces. 

Your jackfruit pickle /कटहल अचार is ready. 

Enjoy with daal chawal, roti, parantha. Tips : Do not boil the jackfruit as it absorbs water and the pickle will not last long without adding preservatives. 

Tips :

• Do not keep steamed pieces under bright sunlight for more than two hours as they will become too dry and will become unfit for pickle. We just require to remove the extra moisture.
• After adding oil keep the pickle under sunlight in a wide mouth container for two three days. Keeping in wide mouth container helps in turning the pickle with spoon (Dry wooden or steel) so that the spices get mixed nicely with oil, jackfruit and mango pieces. 
• Top the pickle with oil to make it last long.
• Do not use plastic as the plasticizers leach into oil. Plasticizers are harmful to health. 

Suggested Variations : 

• Chickpeas washed with vinegar can be added. They absorb the flavor of pickle taste amazing also give a crunch to pickle. 
• 10-15 peeled cloves of garlic can be added to pickle 

Happy Pickling ☺️ 

पनीर भुर्जी / Paneer Bhurji (Cottage Cheese savory)

Paneer Bhurji

Paneer (Indian cottage cheese) is full of Protien, and many micro nutrients. Mixed with lots of vegetables it's nutritional value increases so does the taste. Matar-Paneer, butter-paneer, shahi-paneer are all very tasty and delicious savory of paneer, but tare very high on fats and cholesterol as they require lots of butter/nuts etc. Paneer Bhurji (पनीर भुर्जी) requires very less cooking oil. The moisture of vegetables and paneer renders the bhurji soft texture. 

Nutritional value (approx.) 

• Energy : 400 cal
• Carbohydrates :  2-3 gm
• Fats : 40 gm
• Sugar :
• Protein : 22 gm
• Calcium : 450 - 460 gm 
• Micronutrients:Magnesium, Phosphorus, vitamins 

Preparation Time : 15 minutes 

Cooking Time : 10 minutes 

Servings : 4Medium helpings 

Ingredients for Making Paneer Bhurji : 

• Paneer : 100 gm
• Onion : 1medium size (50 gm approx) 
• Capsicum : 50 gm
• Tomatoes : 100 gm 
• Ginger :1inch piece 
• Green chilies :1-2 according to taste (optional) 
• Green coriander : 10 - 15 leafs 
• Salt :1teaspoon or to taste 
• Cooking oil : 10 ml 

Directions For Making Paneer Bhurji :

• Wash and chop all vegetables 

Chopped vegetables 

• Break the paneer into crumbs.

Paneer crumbs

• Heat oil in cooking pan. Add chopped green chillies and grated ginger to hot oil. Sautee for 30 seconds then add chopped onions. 

Green chillies ginger and onions in oil 

• Sautee for a minute or two till onions become transparent. Add chopped capsicum. 

 Onion sautéed 

Capsicum added 

Capsicum after cooking for a minute 

• Mix and cook for a minute or so.
•  Add chopped tomatoes. Mix and cover, allow it to cook for two minutes stirring it atleast once 

All vegetables cooked

• The vegetables should be little crunchy not mushy after cooking.
• Add paneer to cooked vegetables. 

Paneer added 

• Add salt and mix. 
• Cover and cook for two to three minutes on low heat with stirring in between. Switch off the heat and allow it to cool. Paneer Bhurji is ready. 

Paneer Bhurji

• Add chopped coriander and mix. Paneer Bhurji is ready to serve. 

Paneer Bhurji

Tips: 

• Vegetables should be finely chopped. 
• Vegetables should be sautéed not cooked fully. 
• After adding paneer stirring regularly is must and cooking should be done on medium heat. 
• Do not over cook, else paneer bhurji will become dry not juicy and soft. 

Alternate Suggestions :

• Boiled green reen peas can be added to increase the taste and Protien content.
• Red chilli powder can be added, if one wants spicy bhurji.