Enchor Chingrir Dalna ( Raw Jackfruit Curry with Shrimp)

When I used to work and live in North Bengal our project manager invited me on his son’s naming ceremony. We headed off to their home which was in a interior part of North Bengal. It is one of the most beautiful parts of India at the foot hills of Himalaya. I vividly remember the spectacular beauty of Gorumara National Park and the thousands of streams and rivers flowing through it. After we reached the village we sat down for one of the best meals of my life. All made from the local farms and the plentiful fish and shrimps from the local rivers. One of the food I had stuck with me. I have made it on and off over the years. It’s an interesting combo of shrimp and raw jackfruit (kanthal).

The other day when my husband had some friends over I decided to make this, especially because our guests were also Bong which is a rarity for us. They loved it and wanted the recipe, so here it goes.

Ingredients

1. 1 can raw jackfruit drained and soaked overnight in water
2. 2 medium sized potatoes cut into quarters
3. 1lb. large tiger prawns deveined and cleaned ( Reserve the shells for prawn stock )
4. 1 medium tomato coarsely chopped
5. 1 small onion minced
6. 1tbsp. ginger paste
7. 1tsp. garlic paste
8. 1+1 tbsp. turmeric powder
9. 1tsp. chili powder
10. 1tsp. coriander powder
11. 1/2tsp. cumin powder
12. 1/2tsp. Bengali garam masala powder
13. 1tsp. sugar
14. Salt
15. Mustard oil
16. For Tempering
    1. 2,3 Bay leaves
    2. Whole garam masala ( 2 green cardamom, 2 cloves, 1” cinnamon stick )
    3. 1tsp. whole cumin seeds

Procedure

Start with making the prawn stock. In a saucepan take the shells of the prawns and cover them with enough water. Allow them to simmer on low heat till you need them for your gravy. This way you can extract the flavors of prawns to their maximum. Strain the stock before you add to your curry.

In a pressure cooker take jackfruit pieces and add a cup of water to it. Add a pinch of salt and cook it on high heat till the first whistle. Let the steam settle down on its own before you open the cooker. Drain the water and reserve the jackfruit pieces.

Now we get to the main part of our cooking. Rub the prawns with 1tsp. turmeric powder and salt. Heat enough mustard oil in a pan and fry the prawns till they change their color to a vibrant orange. Remove with a slotted spoon and keep aside.

In the same oil shallow fry the jackfruit pieces and potatoes till their edges turn brown. Remove and keep aside.

If needed add more oil to your pan and temper it with bay leaves, whole garam masala and cumin seed. Sauté on medium heat for a minute. If you want to get a vibrant red color to your gravy add little sugar to this oil and wait for it to caramelize. Add minced onion to it and patiently fry them on low heat till they turn light brown.

Now add all your wet spices to the oil and cook them on low heat for a while. Throw the coarsely chopped tomatoes in, followed by the dry spice powder. Cook till the tomato is mushy and the spices take a darker hue.

Add fried vegetables to it and fry them along with the spices. Soon you will see a fine line of oil oozing out of the spices. This is the time when you add the strained prawn stock to it. Add salt and sugar to season and stir the gravy well with the spices. Cook them covered for about 10 minutes on medium heat. You can add water if the stock is not enough.

When the vegetables are 3/4th done add fried prawns to it and cook everything together for another 2-3 minutes.

Garnish with a pinch of garam masala and ghee.

Raw jackfruit with Mutton

Ripe jackfruit is something which I dislike from the core of my heart. However my feelings just take a 180 degree turn when its raw. If a jackfruit is cracked open you can find pods inside it. Pods are nothing but a fleshy covering of the seeds. When it is raw the texture of the fleshy covering is remarkably similar to that of goat or lamb meat. This has made raw jackfruit an excellent vegetarian substitute for meat.

My todays post is about a jugalbandi of Goat meat and raw jackfruit. My dida (Grandmom) used to make it quite often. Years and continents later I encountered the same food in a Bistro named Rangoli in Vancouver, Canada. Even the taste matched it perfectly.

Ingredients

1. 1 can of raw jackfruit drained, washed and cut into meat sized chunks
2. 250gms of mutton on bone ( I have used goat meat )
3. 2 medium onion finely sliced
4. 1 tsp. ginger paste
5. 1 tsp. garlic paste
6. 2 medium sized tomatoes cut into quarters
7. 1 tsp.turmeric powder
8. 1tbsp. chili powder
9. 1tsp. sugar
10. Salt to taste
11. Oil
12. 1 tsp. bengali garam masala powder
13. For Tempering
1. 2,3 Bay leaves
2. 1” cinnamon stick
3. 2,3 cloves
4. 2 green cardamom pods.

Procedure

Heat oil in a pan and shallow fry the jackfruit pieces till all the sides take a brown hue. Remove and keep them reserved.

If the oil remaining is sufficient for the rest of the cooking go ahead or else you can add little more to it.

Temper the oil with all the whole spices listed under tempering. Allow them to sizzle a bit. Now add onion slices to the fragrant oil and fry them on low heat till they turn light brown. This process is a bit lengthy. You can add a pinch of salt to the raw onion slices to make the process faster.

Add mutton pieces to it and sear them on high heat till it looses its raw color.

Add ginger garlic paste to it and sauté along with the mutton pieces. Next add tomato  to it along with turmeric and chili powder. Fry on medium heat till the tomatoes become mushy.

Season with salt and sugar. Cook it covered on low heat till the meat is half cooked. You can use your pressure cooker as well to make this quick.

Now add the jackfruit pieces you have already fried. Mix everything together. Give a taste test and adjust accordingly. Cook it covered till both meat and jackfruit are tender.This will have a thick gravy. So adjust the water either by boiling the extra off or by adding little more.

Sprinkle garam masala powder and keep it covered till you serve.

Enchorer Dalna (Jackfruit curry)

When I was a child we used to live in a rented house. Our land-lady was an accomplished cook. She used to make fantastic Jackfruit curry. So much so that when years later we had moved to our own house, I used to still visit her for her special enchorer dalna.

However, I always cringed to make it for myself because of the huge labor associated with handling the jackfruit. Seems like god has equipped it with enough armory to fight off chefs like me.

In US jackfruit is easily available in cans. So the war is easily won just by a can opener. Here’s a easy recipe to make enchorer dalna from canned jackfruit.

Ingredients

1. 1 can jackfruit
2. 2 medium sized potatoes cut into quarters
3. 1 small onion finely chopped
4. 1 medium tomato finely chopped
5. 1 tsp. ginger paste
6. 1 tsp. garlic paste
7. 1 tsp. turmeric powder
8. 2 tsp. chili powder
9. 1/2 tsp. coriander powder
10. Salt
11. Sugar
12. Oil
13. Ghee (Clarified butter)
14. Whole garam masala ( 2-3 cloves, 1" cinnamon, 2 green cardamom, 2-3 Bay leaves)

Procedure

Drain the jackfruit and wash the slices thoroughly in water. Soak the slices overnight in cold water to get rid of the taste of brine.

Next day morning drain the water and cut the slices into medium cubes.

Heat oil in a pan and add whole garam masala to it. When the oil becomes fragrant add chopped onions and fry on medium heat till it turns light brown. Add ginger garlic paste and tomatoes to it. Fry till the raw smell goes away and oil starts separating out from the spices.

Add potato and jackfruit cubes to it along with all dry spice powder.

Fry them along with all spices on medium heat so that all the pieces are nicely coated with masala. You can sprinkle little water in between to prevent the spices from burning.

Now pour half a cup of water to it and cook it covered till potato and jackfruit pieces are done. By this time the quantity of water will be reduced to a thick sauce like consistency.

Add 1 tsp. of ghee and sprinkle garam masala powder before turning off the heat. Keep it covered till you serve with hot rice.