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Kathal ki sabzi

Pooja Yadav
As a kid and teen I grew up eating Jackfruit from our kitchen garden back home. It’s a tedious process to peel and cut it up into bite size pieces. As always loved exploring plants, a kid full of excitement and questions such fond memories of seasonal fresh produce.
The largest tree fruit in the world, jackfruit ( Kathal in Hindi )can be up to 3 feet long and 20 inches wide. Just one fruit can weigh as much as 110 pounds. But you're not alone if you haven't heard of it.
While jackfruit first appeared in the rain forests of India, farmers now grow it in many parts of the world, including Thailand, Sri Lanka, Australia, Africa, Brazil, and the Philippines.
Jackfruit is a tropical tree fruit native to southwest India. It belongs to the Moraceae plant family, which also includes mulberries and figs.
The rind of a jackfruit is green or yellow and spikey. Although it gives off a smell of rotting onions when it's ripe and ready to eat, the pulp inside smells and tastes far better: like a cross between pineapple and bananas. You can eat the seeds, too. And a jackfruit has plenty of them -- up to 500. Each can reach an inch and a half in length.
There are two main types of jackfruit. One is yellow and mushy. It tastes sweet, but it's slimy. This sweet type is matured jackfruit. The other type of jackfruit has crisp, crunchy flesh that's with outer spiky green skin not as sweet. This is actually young or baby jackfruit used in curry and savoury dishes.
Due to its fibrous texture, people often use jackfruit flesh as a meat substitute in vegetarian or vegan dishes
5 from 1 vote
Print Recipe
Prep Time 10 mins
Cook Time 30 mins
Total Time 40 mins

Ingredients
  

  • 400 gm freshly peeled and sliced young jackfruit or two canned brined jackfruit pieces drained
  • 2-3 medium size red onions puree or finely chopped
  • 3-4 ripe wine tomatoes, puree
  • 1/2 tsp ginger finely chopped
  • 1/2 tsp garlic finely chopped
  • cooking oil as required
  • salt to taste
  • 1-2 cups vegetable stock or water as required
  • cilantro chopped for garnish, optional

Indian spices

  • 1/2 tsp panch puran whole spice mix
  • 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
  • 3-4 tsp roasted coriander powder
  • 1 tsp red chilli powder
  • 1 tsp cumin powder
  • 1 tsp garam masala

Instructions
 

  • Drain the jackfruit and rinse in cold water.
  • Heat 2 -4 tbsp oil in a wide pan and add the drained jackfruit.Saute on medium heat for 2-3 minutes.
  • Once the jackfruit is golden in color and slightly cooked, turn off the heat.
    Remove the sautéed jackfruit in a bowl.
  • In the same pan, heat the remaining oil and add chopped onions. Lightly saute to a golden color.
  • Add finely chopped ginger, garlic, spices, bay leaf and saute for another 2-3 minutes.
  • Add tomato paste and saute, until the oil oozes from the mix.
  • Now add sauteed jackfruit, mix and let everything cook together for 3-5 minutes.

Notes

Food, mood and season all flock together. During autumn I love my gravy with a stew like consistency and gradually as we step towards winter I adore the thick masala gravy wrapped with these jackfruit beauties. Hence adjust the amount of water to your taste and preference.
Garam masala can be replaced with hot madras curry powder or any hot curry powder if unavailable.
Since we don’t get raw jackfruit so easily here in UK if you are not close to any Indian grocery store.
There have been many occasions when I am unable to find one.
As an alternative I usually use canned ‘Young Jackfruit’ in brine.They are peeled, clean and nicely chopped into bite-size pieces.
Another advantage of using them is that they are slightly softer than raw jackfruit so less cooking time too.
So when using the canned jackfruit, just drain the water out of the can and rinse the jackfruit in fresh water to take out any brine flavor.
For added flavour and taste I love to sauté my jackfruit pieces. Flip with care as tender and easily split up loosing textures.
Fresh jackfruit pieces take longer to cook, pressure cooker is quicker method to cook.
If you prefer slow cooked flavours use a slow cooker and follow the manufacturer’s instructions.
When cooking in cutlets, burgers or pakora recipe you’re free to cook it up freely. When it comes to curry I love to relish it as little individual pieces.