Chakkakkuru Manga Aviyal- A Guest Post By Honey

Tweet

Honey doesn't need an introduction from me. Most of you know her as Sarah Naveen. She is the author and all in all of "Vazhayila.com", the wonderful blog dedicated to Kerala recipes. Honey has an amazing collection of recipes from Kuttanadu,the backwater region in central Kerala. Kuttanadu has its own cuisine, which is quite popular among the foodies around the world.She has a collection of Kerala Syrian Christian specials as well. Check out her scrumptious Chicken olarthiyathu and lip-smacking Kuttanadan Fish Curry.

Honey is like a sister to me. When we started talking I told her that Sunitha and I think that she is one of our juniors from our degree college, where we had so many great juniors as friends.She is a wonderful person ,an amazing photographer and a great cook. I am so happy to have her here to share her grandma's recipe with the readers of Collaborative Curry.This is one of my favorite recipes. Welcome to Collaborative Curry, dear Honey. Thanks so much for doing this post, in spite of your busy schedule and a fever.I am so grateful to have great friends like you.



Rarely do I come across such people who leaves a profound impact on me ; who is so much fun to talk to ; who spreads joy and comfort around, and at times who acts like a sister . Namitha is one such person.
I don't know exactly when I started talking to her, creating a new bond, an "unseen" friendship from miles away. Unseen - I am yet to see her in person; Unseen - I never saw myself crafting a friendship with a person, I have known only through blogging.
We don't talk everyday or every week,but never less than an hour :)

I am always amazed by her passion for food, how efficiently she manages her lovely family and Collaborative curry - a blog she co- authors with Sunitha - full of love and sweet things.
I am so delighted to be here, a space which I admire the most in the blogging world, both for recipes and brilliant pictures.
In fact, it came as a wake up call for me when Namitha asked me to do a guest post here, as I was slowly drifting away from the food blogging scene;..... I m glad you asked me :-)

The recipe I have here, is something from my grandma's collection, which she shared with me on my last visit.
I really miss everything about monsoon back home-especially "kuttanad" - along with the monsoon rain, the monsoon tides and the amazing food. In the bygone - olden days,( not like centuries old , but u know the old India nostalgia) after feasting on the various preparations from jack fruit the entire summer, the seeds are stashed away in a " vallikkotta" "for rainy days". They used it when the monsoon hit the village hard for it's impossible to get out and grab other vegetables.
A couple of weeks ago, I got hold of a bag of chakkakuru from N's cousin's place and have been cooking up a lot of dishes with it ever since.

Since I wanted to make something authentic, something true to my roots for my post here, I couldn't think of anything better than this recipe.
It's more or less similar to the curry with the same name, except its a gravy-less prep.You can use either "Uppumanga or pacha manga", I use fresh green mango, for it's widely available here regardless of the season.

Recipe for Chakkakuru Pachamanga Avial
Serves - 4
Total cooking time - 30 minutes.

Ingredients:-
To cook
Chakkakuru/ Jack fruit seeds -1.5 cup - 2 cup
Green chili 3-4 slitted
Turmeric - 1/4 tea spoon
Water - just enough to cook it
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Salt to taste

Green mango - 1 medium - skin removed and cut into almost same size as Chakkakuru
To grind
Coconut - 1.5 cup
Cumin seeds - a generous pinch
Turmeric - 1/4 tea spoon
Green chili - 2 -3
Curry leaves - 2 (optional)
Garlic - 1 clove ( optional )

Thick Yogurt - 1/4 cup
Coconut Oil - 2 tea spoon
Curry leaves - 1 sprig

Method:-
Clean and cut the jackfruit into 3 or 4 pieces lengthwise.
In medium heat ,cook covered jackfruit seeds with all ingredients under To cook section, except green mango, for like 5 minutes or until done.
(I use roughly a little more than 1/2 cup water to cook this)
Add mango pieces and cook for another 3-4 minutes. Mango takes so little time to cook.
Grind all under To grind to a coarse paste, add to the cooked vegetables and mix well,let stand in medium heat for 2-3 minutes.Remove from heat.
Check for salt and sourness; then add from a tablespoon to 1/4 cup yogurt, it depends solely on how much sour you want your avial to be.
Drizzle coconut oil, curry leaves and combine everything well. Let it stand covered for 15 -20 minutes before you serve, for all flavors to blend well.

Notes:-
If you are using frozen jackfruit seeds, combine everything To cook section including green mango and cook till mango is done and continue with the process
You can always increase or decrease the qty of coconut, as per your likes.
I do leave the brown skin on for some seeds, since I love the taste of it ; but if you are gastric please do remove it
Add more water if you think it needs more to get cooked, but I always use a little more than 1/2 cup.