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 ☺️ 

Kathal-Ka-Achar/कटहल का अचार (Pickle of Raw Jackfruit):

Katahal Ka Achar

Jack fruit is endemic to India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and few other Asian countries. Raw jack fruit is also termed as vegetarian mutton. Savories for main course either dry or with gravy are made with it. Cutlets of raw jackfruit are very tasty and can be had for snack as well as breakfast along with bread and Indian sauces (chutney) 

http://jyotsna-pant.blogspot.com/2011/10/jack-fruit-cutlets.html

The fibrous nature of Jack fruit helps in overcoming the problem of constipation and it leaches out the cancer causing chemicals from body to the large intestine thus ultimately causing their elimination. Low sodium and high vitamin contents add to its nutritional value. Ripe Jack fruit is rich in sugars and carbohydrates along with dietary fibers, protein and vitamins. The seeds of ripe fruit can be dried cleaned of the tough covering then made to fine powder. This flour of the Jackfruit seeds is used to make Halwa (an Indian dessert), chillas (Indian savory or sweet eggless pancakes).

I love all preparation of Jackfruit only the ripe one exudes very strong sweet odor which is too strong for my senses, but taste is real yummy.

Pickle of Jackfruit is very easy to make and requires a month time to mature. I make this pickle every season and my family looks forward to Jackfruit season for all the goodies I make out of raw Jackfruit. Old mango masala as well as pieces can be utilized while making this pickle.

Nutritional facts of Raw Jackfruit/100 gm.:

Calories 95

Total Fat 0.6gm

Sodium 2mg

Carbohydrates 23gm

Dietary fibers 1.5 gm

Protein 2.7gm

Sugar 19gm.

Vitamin A:2%

Vitamin C 23%

Calcium 2%

Iron 1%

Preparation Time: 30-40 min

Cooking Time: 10 min.

Maturing Time: 20-30 Days

Servings: Makes 300-350 gm. Pickle (Approx)

Ingredients Required For Making Pickle of Raw Jackfruit:

• 500 gm. Raw Jackfruit
• 100 gm. Raw Mango (1 large)
• 50 gm. Fennel Seeds
• 10-15 gm .Fenugreek Seeds
• 10-15 gm. Seeds
• 1 Teaspoon Turmeric Powder
• 4-5 Teaspoon Red Chili Powder or to taste
• 2 Teaspoon Kashmiri Chili Powder (Optional)
• 4-5 Whole Red Chilies (optional)
• 100 ml. Mustard oil / any cooking oil
• 10ml.Vinegar. I use apple cider.
• Salt to taste

Directions For Making Raw Jackfruit Pickle:

• Remove the thick peeling of Jackfruit keeping the white portion intact with rest of the fruit.
• Remove the central hard portion which is to be discarded.
• Cut the peeled jackfruit to 2-3 cm. size with the base and the fibers together (Intact).

Katahal Pieces For Pickle

• Roast the spices seeds individually till the fenugreek seeds just start turning golden and the fennel seeds change the color slightly and become crisp. The color of nigella seeds will change in two to three minutes of roasting o high flame.
• Mix all roasted seeds and let them cool.

Roasted Spices

• Wash, deseed and cut the mango to small pieces.
• Take all pieces of mango in a bowl, add 1 teaspoon salt 1/2teaspoon turmeric and mix.
• Cover and keep aside.
• Meanwhile boil 1 lt. water along with 2 teaspoon of salt and pinch of turmeric.
• When water comes to boil add the cleaned and cut jackfruit pieces in it.
• Cook till the base of the pieces become soft to touch.

Katahal pieces being Par boiled

Cooked Jackfruit pieces

• Drain all water and keep the boiled jackfruit pieces under the sun for 25-20 minutes. This is done basically to remove the excess water.

Par boiled pices of Katahal drying

• Pulse the mixture of roasted spices to make a coarse powder.

Roasted and coarsely ground spices 

• Drain all juices from mango pieces and keep them separately for further use.
• Heat oil in a thick bottom wok and when the oil is smoking hot switch off the heat and add
• Red chilies
• Coarse powder of the spices,
• Turmeric
• Salt
• Red chili powder
• Kashmiri Red chili powder
• Add the juices of Mango and vinegar.

Spices and Oil

Spices and Oil mixture for Katahal Pickle

• Cook for 1 minute.Then add:
• Jackfruit pieces
• Pieces of Mango
• Mix and cook on low flame for 2-3 minutes.

Spices mixed with Parboiled Katahal pieces

• Switch off the heat and let it cool without covering.
• Take out he pickle in a steel / glass container, cover with a muslin cloth and keep under the sun for 4-5 days.

Katahal Achar To be Kwpt For Maturing

• Fill it in clean dry bottle and put the lid on.

Katahal Ka Achar

• Allow it to mature for 20-30 days before consuming it.
• Enjoy the pickle of Raw Jackfruit through out the year.

Katahal Ka Achar

Tips:

• This pickle tastes best in mustard seed oil but except coconut any other cooking oil of choice can be taken.
• While peeling the Jackfruit make sure as less as possible white portion on which the fibrous mass is attached comes out.
• Remove the central hard mass completely.
• Oil your palms and the knife to avoid the sticky white liquid from the central hard aprt to stick on palms and knife.
• To clean your palms and knife first scrub them with little oil apply water and soap.
• Do not overcook while boiling. The pieces should be just soft.
• Do not dry the boiled pieces too much under the sun. This will cause all juices to dry up and the pickle pieces even after maturing will not be soft and succulent.

Suggested Variations:

• The left over pieces o old mango pickle along with its masala can be added to the pickle before bottling. If old mango pickle is being added then the amount of mango can be reduced accordingly otherwise the original flavor and taste of jackfruit pickle will be overshadowed by mango pickle.
• Seeds of Jackfruit can be added after cleaning and parboiling. Seeds should be boiled separately as they take more time than jackfruit pieces.
• I do not add asafoetida but if you want you can add.
• Some people love it sweet and sour thus little jaggery can be added to the hot pickle before bottling. 

Kadai Pulav (Fried Rice With Vegetables)

Kadai Pulav with Salad and Coriander-Mint chutney

Rice with lots of vegetables in it makes a complete meal. Fried rice is one of the best methods to make children eat vegetables. For me till date it remains the best preparation of rice. It is absolutely easy to make and tasty with all sort of nutrients accumulated in a singal dish.Beans and Nutrela provide proteins,Carrots and cauliflower vitamin A.,Onion provides sulfur and vitamin C along with Potassium. Apart from these much needed dietary fibers and micro nutrients come from these vegetables.Rice provides the carbohydrates. Thus making this dish a complete food.

Preparation Time: 15 min.

Cooking Time: 15 – 20 min

Servings: 4 Large servings

Ingredients Required for Making Fried Rice:

• 250 gm. Rice

• 50 gm. French Beans

• 50 gm. Carrots

Carrots and beans cut thin pieces

• 4-5 florets of Cauliflower

• 1Onion (medium size)(optional)

• 2 cm. Piece of Ginger

• 10-15 Nutrela

• Salt to taste

• 1/2Tea spoon Red chili powder

• 1/2Tea spoon Garam masala

• 10 ml Ghee  / Olive oil or any cooking oil

• 2-3 Sprigs of Fresh Coriander leaves

• 1/2 Tea spoon Cumin seeds

• 1-2 Bay leaves

• 2-3 cloves

• 1 Green chili

Green chilies

Direction for Making Fried Rice:

• Wash the rice and soak it in water for 20-30 min.

• Soak nutrela in water for 1 hr.

Soaked Nutrela

• Boil the rice in a container or cooker till it gets cooked but does not become extremely soft and sticky.

• Cut ginger to small pieces.

• While the rice is cooking cut the Onions long and thin

• Cut Carrots, Beans Cauliflower florets long and thin.

Vegetables and Nutrela for fried rice

Cauliflower florets cut to long pieces

• Squeeze water from the soaked Nutrela, throw the water and keep soaked nutrela aside.

• Grate ginger.

• Slice green chili from middle length wise and remove the seeds.

• Remove the boiled rice and pass lots of water through it so as to remove all excess starch from cooked rice. This will avoid cooked rice grains from getting stuck to each other.

• Keep aside the cooked rice.

Boiled Rice

• Add cut onion a long and thin.

Long thin cut Onion

• Heat ghee / oil in a thick bottom wok and when the ghee is hot add 

• Cumin seeds

• Bay leaves and 

• Cloves and cook for 30 sec.

• Add grated ginger,onion and green chili.Cook on low flame till they become translucent.

Onions fried to translucent state

• Add soaked nutrela and cook for 2-3 min. with continuous stirring.

• Add cut vegetables and stir cook them for 3-4 min.

Nutrela and vegetables added to translucent onion

Vegetables and Nutrela cooked for 3 min. and ready for spices to be added

• The vegetables will change the color but will maintain the crunchy texture.

• Add 

• turmeric

• Garam masala,

• Red chili powder

• Salt and mix nicely.

Spices added to Vegetables

Spices mixed in vegetables and being cooked for 1 min.

• Add cooked rice (boiled rice) and mix nicely.

Rice added to vegetable and spices mixture

• Cook with continuous stirring for 1-2 min.

Rice mixed with spices and vegetabl

• Cover and cook for 2-3 min. with occasional stirring.

• Switch off the gas after 2-3 min. of cooking. Let the rice stand for 1-2 min. The spices flavor will soak nicely in the rice.

• Garnish with Coriander leaves.

Add caption

• Serve hot fried rice with salad, chutney and raita.

http://jyotsna-pant.blogspot.com/2012/06/mango-pickle-north-indian-style.html

http://jyotsna-pant.blogspot.com/2012/06/tangy-mango-pickle-maharashra-style.html

http://jyotsna-pant.blogspot.com/2012/06/spicy-mixed-vegetable-pickle-less-oily.html

http://jyotsna-pant.blogspot.com/2011/10/green-coriander-and-mint-chutney.html

http://jyotsna-pant.blogspot.com/2012/07/pahari-kheere-ka-raita-cucumber-and.html

Kadai Pulav with Salad and Chutney

Tips:

• If rice is being cooked in the cooker then once the pressure is built in the cooker cook for 2 min and switch off the gas.

• If rice is being cooked in open container then excess water can be taken and once rice is cooked the remainder water should be drained off.

• Saffola rice is low on starch and the rice grains do not stick to each other.

• If you wish to add cabbage in the fried rice then do not add onion, onion and cabbage do not go too well together.

• Left over rice from meals can be used for making fried rice.

Suggested Variations:

• If you do not like yellow color in fried rice then turmeric should be avoided.

• Cottage cheese, shredded chicken / mutton can be sauteed and added along with the vegetables.

• To add color and nutrition red, green, yellow bell pepper can be added along with other vegetables.

•  Fresh green peas can be added to the onions and cooked for 2-3 min. before rest of the vegetable s are added.

Green Peas