I have fond memories of Jackfruit ( Panas in Konkani), my pappa and me having a competition to see who eats more. My brother and aayi didn’t like it as much.
Though we loved the ripe fruit and the dishes prepared with unripe tender fruit, we all shared a common dislike for anything prepared with ripe fruit. It must be the the smell that bothered us. So unlike any other Konkani home, where ripe jackfruit dishes were very common, they never made their way to our table.
So when aayi told me she wants to show how pansa bhakri or pansa pathoLi is prepared, I didn’t show any interest. We finished off most of the ripe fruit. But she saved few pieces anyway and prepared this out-of-the-world, absolutely lip smacking dish. The fragrance was intoxicating. She had prepared just two, and we all wished there was more. I finally crowned this dish as the best dish I tasted during my one month long stay in India. This tastes great when it is hot, and topped with a dollop of ghee .
Read the Malayalam version chakka ada . I am sending this to roti mela at Srivalli’s blog.
For covering: 1 cup rice 3/4 cup fresh/frozen coconut 5-6 ripe jackfruit pods Salt
Soak rice in water for 2-3 hours. Grind it with coconut to a fine paste. Do not add too much water. Add the jackfruit, salt and grind again.
For the filling: Coconut Jaggery Cardamom powder
(since all these are added according to taste, I am not giving exact measurements)
Mix coconut and jaggery in a thick bottomed pan and heat till the jaggery is well mixed with coconut. Take off heat. Add the cardamom powder and mix.
Final assembly: Take a banana leaf and apply a very thin layer of covering.
Spread some filling on it.
Either fold the leaf into half, or apply a thin layer to another leaf and cover the first one with it (as I have shown below).
Heat a tava and fry the roti . Since it is sweet, this gets black spots on it very quickly.
Serve hot with ghee .
Serves : 2-3 Preparation time : 30mins
Koot in Konkani is a dish with raw coconut paste. As I mentioned earlier, jackfruit dishes are very popular among Konkanis. This is one dish which has very unique taste to it.
Since the coconut paste in it is not cooked, this gets spoiled very soon. So it is usually refrigerated soon after it is prepared. In a very hot weather of summer, a cold side dish like this makes the meal heavenly. Before refrigerators became integral part of Konkani homes, the coconut was roasted well and then ground to paste. This helps to increase the lifetime of the dish by few hours :).
Suran/surn (elephant root yam) koot is also made on similar lines.
Ingredients: 2 cups raw jackfruit 1 cup fresh/frozen coconut 4-5 red chilies 1/4 tea spn tamarind extract or 2-3 pieces of tamarind 1 tea spn mustard seeds 1/4 tea spn fenugreek seeds A pinch asafoetida 4-5 curry leaves Oil Salt
Method: Cook the jackfruit pieces in cooker along with salt. Remove and discard any extra water and use only the pieces. Cool to room temperature.
Heat a little oil and fry 1/2 tea spn mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, asafoetida. Grind with coconut, tamarind, red chilies and salt(be careful while adding salt as there is salt added to cooked jackfruit). to a smooth chutney consistency. Do not add too much water. Heat a little oil and add remaining mustard seeds. When they start popping, add curry leaves. Pour the seasoning over chutney. Now mix the jackfruit pieces. Refrigerate it. Serve as a side dish with rice and some dal .
Serves : 3-4 Preparation time : 30mins.
