Chakka Varattiyathu Recipe
This halwa is one of my all time favourite. But we don’t make this often, since it is a labour intensive process. My perimma have jackfruit tree in her house, so whenever there is a ripe fruit in that tree, she sent large fruit to our home. Most of the time we eat it as it is, if the fruits are too sweet. But sometimes the fruit won’t be that sweet, so it need some help and it would be transformed into this or payasam. Chakka varatti is pretty easy to make, each people have their own way of making it. My aunt used to chop the fruit finely and cook them in jaggery syrup and make this. But I find that very time consuming, because you have to spend quite a long time separating the inner fruit from the rough jack fruit. So I do it in pressure cooker instead. This is one of my all time favorite dessert. It is so easy to make but all you need is patience. Because this takes a lot of time to make. But totally worth the wait.
About Chakka Varatti Recipe
Chakka varattiyathu recipe also known as jackfruit halwa, chakka varatti, chakka varattiyathu or jackfruit preserve is a popular sweet dish all over South India and Kerala. The fruit is peeled and cut into small pieces after the seeds have been removed. The fruit is then cooked with ghee and jaggery until it has the consistency of a paste or jam. Check my millet varatti and aval varatti. Jackfruits are seasonal fruits. So chakka varatti is a great recipe to preserve jackfruit through out the year. Jackfruit has a strong addicting flavour on its own, so when it is cooked longer for many hours the flavour intensifies creating this delicious dessert. Chakka varatti has a long shelf life when cooked properly, you can literally store them upto a year in fridge. You can use this to make chakka pradhaman also. Each person makes this sweet differently. But I follow two methods for making chakka varatti. First one, using my pressure cooker. It is fast and can be cooked in half the time. The second one is cooking in an open pot, this is more authentic and taste better. I have shared both the cooking method below, you can choose which method suits you.
Check out these jackfruit recipes
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Chakka Varatti Ingredients
Jackfruit | Chakka
Jackfruit is one of the largest fruit in the fruit kingdom. It has thorny spikes outside with juicy ripe sweet fruit inside. Ripe jackfruit has a surprisingly sweet flavour that tastes like a combination of mango, pineapple, and banana. You can find already peeled jackfruit in the market which can be used in this. Else you can get a whole fruit and peel it yourselves.
Jaggery
Jaggery is known by many different names, including gur in Urdu, gud in Hindi, and vellam in Tamil. It taste like fresh cane juice, maple syrup, caramel, or molasses. The unrefined natural sweetener is available in a variety of colours, including light amber, golden brown, and dark brown. For this recipe, try to use the dark brown coloured jaggery which helps with the colour of the varatti.
Ghee
You don’t need too much ghee for making chakka varatti. A small amount is used for getting the consistency correct. Ghee tastes like a cleaner, richer, more decadent version of butter itself.
How to Cut Jack Fruit | Chakka
For making chakka varatti, use ripe jackfruit. There are different varieties of jackfruit available in the market. Try to source firm fleshed jackfruit. We usually call them as “varuka chakka”. Some chakka has mushy textured fruit inside, which is called as koozh chakka". Usually that variety is used in making chakka payasam. If you grab a whole ripe jackfruit. This is how you cut them open easily. First lay several sheets of news paper in the base. Jackfruit tends to be sticky and release gum like textured pisin once cut open. Use sharp knife to cut jackfruit. Apply oil all over the the knife and your hands to protect them from the gum released from jackfruit. Now cut the jackfruit in half first. Then depending on the size of each halves, you can cut them into portions like shown in the image. Once the jackfruit is portioned, remove the ripe petals from the jackfruit. Each fruit has a seed inside, which you can remove them easily. Make sure you don’t use the fibrous membrane in the jackfruit which can be discarded. You can store the jackfruit flesh in an air tight container in fridge for several days or use in making recipes like jackfruit fritters, appam, ice cream.
How to Make Chakka Varattiyathu Recipe (Jackfruit preserves) 2 Ways
Pressure Cooker Method - This is the faster method, you can use jackfruit whole. Don’t need to chop them. Take whole jackfruit and 1 cup of water in a pressure cooker. Cover and pressure cook. Once the jackfruit is cooked, you can cool them and grind them to a puree. This puree is later cooked with jaggery syrup till thick halwa like. You can serve this immediately or store it in a container in fridge. Open Pot Method - this method is authentic method of making chakka varatti. Jackfruit is pureed first and added to a heavy bottom pot. Add Jaggery and cook low and slow for many hours till the mixture darkens in colour and turns halwa like. Even though it takes time to cook, it is more authentic and taste best.
Chakka Varatti | Jackfruit Preserve Extra Tips
Choosing Jackfruit - For making chakka varatti, use ripe jackfruit. There are different varieties of jackfruit available in the market. Try to source firm fleshed jackfruit. We usually call them as “varuka chakka”. Some chakka has mushy textured fruit inside, which is called as koozh chakka". Usually that variety is used in making chakka payasam. Choosing Jaggery - The unrefined natural sweetener is available in a variety of colours, including light amber, golden brown, and dark brown. For this recipe, try to use the dark brown coloured jaggery which helps with the colour of the varatti. Cooking Pot - traditionally chakka varatti is cooked in a heavy bottom brass pot called as " Uruli “. If you don’t have one, you can use any heavy bottom pan like a pressure cooker or a large kadai. Cooking Time - chakka varatti is a labour intensive process. So take your time to cook this with love. It may take many hours for the halwa to reduce and thicken. But the end product is so worth it.
How to Make Chakka Varatti (Stepwise Pictures)
Chakka Varatti (Pressure Cooker Method)
This is the faster method to make chakka varatti, you can use jackfruit whole. No need to chop them. Once the fruit is cooked in a pressure cooker, you can grind them to a coarse mixture and cook.
Making Jaggery Syrup
1)Lets make jaggery syrup. If you are using high quality organic jaggery you can directly add them in the pan. If you are unsure of the jaggery quality, boil them with water till melted, strain and use in this halwa. Take shredded jaggery in a sauce pan. 2)Add water to cover the jaggery. Place them on heat and cook on medium high heat for 5 minutes or until the jaggery is melted completely. 3)Now the jaggery is melted completely. 4)Strain the mix through a fine sieve. This helps removing the dirt from the jaggery syrup. 5)This is jaggery syrup. Set aside till use.
Cooking Jackfruit in Cooker
6)Use ripe jackfruit which has a firm flesh. Make sure to remove the seeds from the jackfruit. 7)take the jackfruit in a pressure cooker. 8)Take jackfruit and 1 cup of water in a pressure cooker. 9)Cover and pressure cook for 3 whistle, simmer the flame for 10 mins. Turn off the heat.
Grinding & Adding to Pot
10)Once the jackfruit is cooked completely, allow them to cool a bit. Now take them in a blender and grind them to a coarse texture. I used my immersion (stick) blender to grind them coarsely. Now transfer this mix to a kadai.
Making Chakka Varatti
- Pour jaggery syrup into the cooked jackfruit and mix well. You can add more or less depending on your taste. 12)Now start cooking chakka varatti on low medium heat. 13)Let all the moisture evaporate first. Make sure you mix them in between so they don’t burn in the bottom. 14)This is how it looks after 15 minutes of cooking. The mixture has thickened a lot. As the mixture thickens, it gets dark in colour. Continue cooking on medium heat while stirring in between. 15)This is how it looks after 20 minutes of cooking. The halwa is darker in colour and very thick without any moisture. This is what preserves the jackfruit for a longer period of time. 16)At this point add in ghee and mix well. 17)The mixture will leave the sides of the pan and gets thick and jam like. 18)Now the mixture has turned into a mass. Thats it, turn off the heat and allow them to cool completely. 19)Serve or store in an air tight container.
Chakka Varatti (Open Pot Method)
This method of making chakka varatti uses regular kadai or cooking pot. It takes a bit of time to achieve the texture and taste. But it is completely worth the effort. The ingredients are same but the cooking method and usage of jackfruit varies.
Ingredients needed
6 cups Jackfruit 2 cups Jaggery 3 tbsp Ghee
How to make jackfruit preserve
1)For making this preserve or halwa. We are going to use jackfruit in three different ways. 2 cups of pureed jackfruit, 2 cups of roughly crushed jack fruit in a blender and 2 cups of chopped jackfruit. The one you see below is smooth puree jackfruit. 2)This is crushed jackfruit. Take ripe jackfruit in a blender and pulse few times till it is lightly crushed. 2)Take pureed jackfruit, crushed jackfruit and chopped jackfruit in a heavy bottom pan. 4)Add in jaggery to taste. I am using high quality organic jaggery so you can directly add them in the pan. If you are unsure of the jaggery quality, boil them with water till melted, strain and use in this halwa. 5)Cook jaggery and jack fruit on medium high heat. First allow the jaggery to melt completely and then it will start to thicken. 6)After 15 minutes of cooking, the mixture will start to thicken. Keep mixing constantly. 7)For faster cooking, I divided the mixture between two pans. 8)Once the mixture has thickened and started leaving the sides. Add in few spoons of ghee. 9)Mix ghee into the jack fruit halwa. Cook till it thickens even more. Make sure the flame is on low and cook till caramelise. It will get like a jammy texture. Keep cooking on low heat and keep mixing. 10)Now the jack fruit preserves is ready. You can transfer it to a bowl and serve as it is. Or you can transfer it into a pan and set aside to cool. Then slice and serve. 11)You can transfer the mixture to a mould. Allow them to set for few hours. Then unmould. 12)Slice and serve.
Expert Tips
Ripe jackfruit is best in this recipe. Don’t use mushy variety of jackfruit. It will be so stringy. You can add chopped jackfruits when making this. You get bits of jackfruit when you bite into them which makes it yummy. Add jaggery as per your sweet taste. You can add more or less as you like. You can use cardamom and ginger powder as flavourings.. Chakka Varatti can be served as it is in a bowl. You can transfer the halwa into a greased pan and leave it to set. Then cut into squares and serve.
Storage
Chakka varatti can be cooled completely and stored in an air tight container in fridge upto a year.
Is Chakka Varatti good for health?
Jackfruit is high in potassium and a good source of vitamin C. Jackfruit’s potassium content aids in blood pressure regulation. The fruit is also anti-cancer, anti-hypertensive, anti-aging, antioxidant, and anti-ulcer.
Where is Jack fruit originally from?
It is thought to have originated in India. The name “jackfruit” was most likely derived from what the Portuguese called it, “jaca,” which was most likely a variant of the name “chakka pazham” used in southern India. Other names for jackfruit include kathal inBangladesh, kanun in Thailand, and nangka in Malaysia.
Does jackfruit increase diabetes?
Jackfruit contains natural sugars that cause an increase in blood glucose (sugar) levels. Raw jackfruit contains 28.8 g of sugar per 150 g. However, because of its protein and fibre content, jackfruit can still be beneficial to diabetics because it is digested slowly by the body and does not spike blood sugar levels.
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If you have any questions not covered in this post and if you need help, leave me a comment or mail me @[email protected] and I’ll help as soon as I can. Follow me on Instagram, Facebook,Pinterest ,Youtube for more Yummy Tummy inspiration. IF YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE OR ANYTHING FROM YUMMY TUMMY, MAKE SURE TO POST IT AND TAG ME SO I CAN SEE ALL OF YOUR CREATIONS!! #YUMMYTUMMYAARTHI AND @YUMMYTUMMYAARTHI ON INSTAGRAM!
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