Recipe by-
Mr. Vinai Saxena (Chairman of KVIC, India)
Though Kathal (Jackfruit) is eaten as a fruit in some States, but in States like UP, Bihar and MP jackfruit is eaten as a vegetable. It is a favourite of vegetarians, since dishes made of jackfruit like kathal rogan-josh, kathal cutlets taste more like meat or fish preparations rather than plain vegetarian stuff. With their fondness for mutton, Kayasthas often use jackfruit in their cuisine; I know of many Kayastha recipes which use jackfruit as the main ingredient. I will share some of these recipes with you in the course of time.
Today’s recipe is not my own; it has been provided by a close family friend, Vinai Saxena, who loves cooking and is a great connoisseur of food. Incidentally, Vinai and me hail from the same region of UP. Vinai often tells me that my cooking reminds him of the heavenly dishes made by his mother in his childhood. He says that I have stuck to the traditional Kayastha recipes to the extent that the dishes prepared by me taste exactly the same as those he had in his childhood.
Being a busy person, Vinai doesn’t get much opportunity to go to the kitchen but the current lockdown has provided him a chance to indulge in his hobby. A few days ago, he prepared Kathal Kayasthiana and sent some to me. It was really tasty! Here is the recipe of Kathal Kayasthiana by Vinai Saxena.
Prep Time: 15 min
Cooking Time: 10 min
Total Time: 25 min
Ingredients for Kathal:
Kathal (jackfruit): ½ kg (cut it into 2 inches pieces)
Besan (gram flour, lightly roasted)-1 tbsp
Turmeric -1/4 tsp
Oil – 2 tbsp (preferably mustard oil)
Methi seeds – 10 to 12
Ingredients for Masala:
Onion – 1big
Garlic – 3-4 big cloves
Ginger – ½ inch
Tomato – 1 medium
Chilli powder – 1tsp
Turmeric – ½ tsp
Salt – to taste
How to make Kathal Kayastiyana:
1. Peel the jackfruit carefully and cut it into same, small sized pieces. Don’t leave the green covering on the jackfruit.
2. Put the sliced jackfruit pieces in a pressure cooker. Add ½ cup of water, turmeric and salt to the jackfruit pieces. Give only one whistle.
3. After the pressure cooker cools down, open the lid and remove these pieces. Throw out the water from the pressure cooker.
4. Now take a wok or a non-stick frying pan. Put some oil in it. Heat.
5. Put all the jackfruit pieces in the pan and shallow fry them till they will become brown from both the sides. Remove these pieces from the pan and keep aside.
6. Meanwhile, make a masala using all masala ingredients.
7. Put some oil in a pan. Add methi seeds. After one minute add masala paste. Roast the seeds.
8. When masala is half-done, add fried kathal pieces. Toss kathal pieces nicely until malasa sticks on the kathal pieces and oil separates.
9. Now, sprinkle some pre-roasted besan on the kathal pieces evenly. Spread it on the pan and let it fry turning each piece off and on until the pieces become golden brown from both sides.
10. Your dish is ready to be enjoyed with your choice of breads- Roti, Parantha. Poori, Kachori or Bedhmi.
My personal favourite is Kathal with baasi poori (leftover poories)
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