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Chakki Varati- Jackfruit Halwa, which is traditionally done in Kerala and has an elaborate cooking method. It takes time and laborious work to make halwa as constant stirring is needed to avoid burning at the bottom of the pan. A simplified version for making the mix which serves as a base for Halwa, Kheer/Payasam, Kozhukattai/Mothak.
Jack fruit mix will be ideal for working women, as this can be prepared on Sundays and stored in freezer to use on the day of the occasion. Being a base mix for kheer and sweet, this mix can be prepared in large quantities and stored for later use.
Last week happened to see Jackfruit in the market and thought of preparing some sweet. As Pillaiyar Chathurthi is on the way, so opted to prepare kozhukattai with Jackfruit as the stuffing mix. The basic preparation of the jackfruit sweet remains the same except the consistency matters.
I have used pressure cooker for the cooking process . Just stuff the cooker with jack fruit and jaggery and allow it to cook, that’s it!! the hassle free process gets completed. Reminding me of the the Slogan for a two wheeler advertisement which was a massive hit in the early 90’s 🙂 “Fill it, Shut it and Forget it”.
Ingredients:
4 Cups chopped Jackfruit Approximately 750 gms
2 Cups of Jaggery
¼ Cup GheeMethod :
1.Dissolve jaggery in half cup of hot water. I have boiled the jaggery mxiture, no need to boil, just make sure the jaggery dissolves completely.
2. Strain the mix for impurities.
3. Wash and deseed the fruit. Cut jackfruit into small pieces.
4. Now first transfer the chopped jack fruit pieces into pressure cooker, later add the dissolved jaggery.
5. On to the top add ghee and close the lid of the cooker along with weight.
6. The cooking process takes on its course. Keep the flame on medium for 17 minutes and high for 3 minutes. Now switch off the heat and allow it cool down till the pressure gets released. The bottom will not get burned even if its on high flame, as the water content of the fruit and jaggery will take care of the moisture level of the mixture. After opening you get to know about the consistency. Now change the contents of pressure cooker to the cooking pan.
7. Keep the flame on high and keep stirring till the mixture gets to a thicker consistency. Now switch off the heat. That’s the end of the process and the base mix is ready.
8. Store the mix into ziplock bags and deep freeze for future use.
Jotting
1. I have added water to dissolve jaggery, you can add jaggery directly on the top of jack fruit, if you don’t mind about impurities.
2. This mix can be done before hand and can be stored for a week in fridge and deep freeze for future use.
3. The above quantity yields about 2 Cups of Sweet Mix.
Chakka Varati – Jackfruit Halwa
Here comes the main content of the post. The above is the preparation for halwa. Actually the above method is done as a open pot method, a time consuming and ofcourse labourious too… To minimise the hassles, the mix is cooked in a pressure cooker and the next stage of simmering is done on a pan.
Method
1. In a pan add 1 tsp of ghee and add cashewnuts, roast till it changes its colour and transfer to another plate.
2. Now in same the pan add 1 cup of the above mix and keep stirring on a medium heat.
3. Constant stirring is a must to avoid burning of the halwa at the bottom. Keep stirring till the mix swirls effortlessly on the pan when stirred. And the next stage, is the mix gets folded into a mass sticking together. That’s the consistency of the halwa, now add cashew nuts and remove from heat. The process takes around 5 minutes from start to the finish.
Note: 1.Adding extra ghee is individual’s choice as I wanted to use ghee in minimal so just used quarter of cup to 750gms of jack fruit and used non stick tawa while simmering to halwa consistency.
2. The halwa gets bit tight in room temperature, you can reheat the halwa in microwave oven for just 5 seconds or 20 seconds in a hot tawa before serving.
