Tender jackfruit Fritters/ Gujje podi/ Ele halasu Bajji

It is the season of tender jackfruit. Being a Mangalorean I grown up eating varieties of Jackfruit delicacies starting from Gujje (we call tender jackfruit so) to ripe jackfruit. That is generally December to June/ July. Gujje palya, sambhar are regular in any house of Dakshina Kannada or in festival menu during this season. Although usage of gujje is very common, fritters/ bajji was new to me until I tasted this delicious snack in a wedding lunch one or two years back.

This year, I got tender jackfruit bit late. I brought one from my sister’s house when I visited my native recently and tried couple of new recipes like Bajji, saung and Pulao along with our normal palya! Everything turned out super tasty. Today, I am sharing the recipe of fritter/ bajji/ podi!

Also refer the recipe of Banana stem Bajji/ Pakora.

Preparation time: 20 minutes (excluded cutting time)

Cooking time: 30- 45 minutes

Serves: 4-5

Ingredients:

Tender jackfruit - ¼th of a medium gujje, 20 thin slices of approx. 2 inch long

Salt – to taste

Asafoetida/ hing – 1 pinch

Chilli powder – 1 tsp

Ajwain/ carom seeds/ Om kalu – ¼ tsp

Gram flour/ Kadle hittu – 1 cup

Corn flour – 1 tbsp (optional)

Chat masala – ¼ tsp (optional)

Oil – for deep frying (I prefer coconut oil)

Method:

• Cut Gujje/ tender jackfruit. Remove outer thick rind/ peel, core and discard.
• Make thin slices of about 2 inch long. Dip in water and set aside for 5 minutes.
• Drain the water and boil these pieces in fresh water adding little salt (¼ tsp) until they are half cooked. Do not use pressure cooker here.  Switch off the heat before they turn very soft. Drain water and keep aside to cool down.
• Now, in a mixing bowl take ½ cup of water. Dissolve asafoetida. Add about ½ tsp salt (do not add much as it is added to the vegetable while cooking), chilli powder, chat masala and carom seeds. Prepare batter by mixing gram flour and corn flour. Add water as required to make batter of neither too thick nor too thin consistency (little thinner than dosa batter).
• Now keep oil in a thick wok/ pan for heating. When it is hot, dip cooked gujje pieces in the prepared batter one by one and drop into the hot oil.
• Fry until they turn golden brown and the bajjis cooked fine.
• Finish off all the gujje pieces in similar way.
• Serve hot bajjis with tomato sauce.

Note:

• Be careful while adding salt to batter and vegetable. It should be in moderate quantity as we are adding to both.
• These fritters can be served as munchooris with chopped (& fried) garlic, chilli, coriander, onions & capsicum in sauce (Soy &tomato).
• To check readiness of oil, drop a small portion of batter in oil. It should immediately come up to float.
• Apply little oil while cutting jackfruit to avoid much sticking.
• You can adjust spice level of batter as per your taste
• While frying, do not over crowd for better cooking.