Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Kadachakka Chips & Mezhukkupuratti Recipe

I was never much of a kadachakka fan. I didn't even know its called breadfruit in English but I wasn't surprised to see it in the Kerala store near my house one Sunday. I immediately picked up one and stashed it in the fridge to cook with later. Amma makes only two kinds of dishes with this - thoran and mezhukkupuratti. In fact, when I was younger and liked to play "what's your favourite..." with her, her answer was always "kadhachakka thoran" when asked what her favourite side dish is.

It started turning brown as soon as it was cut and I had to click like
crazy before it started looking bad. Any ideas to prevent this?
Do we dunk them in water as soon as we chop them, life for brinjals?


I, however, have always preferred kadachakka mezhupuratti and I was sure even TH would like that better so that's what I made with most of it. I am glad I came across Cynthia's post before I finished off the entire breadfruit because she has this amazingly simple idea to make chips out of them.

So, even though this is not much of a recipe, I would like to share this idea of hers with you - breadfruit chips!


Cut the breadfruit into thin strips and deep fry in oil. You can sprinkle them with spices or herbs of your choice, after frying. I only used salt.

When I asked Cynthia if this is an authentic Caribbean recipe, her answer was "Yes my dear, I am sure other people make them too but we do consider it to be very Caribbean :)"

Well, that's why this plate of freshly fried breadfruit chips goes over to the Monthly Mingle - Caribbean Cooking hosted by Meeta.

As a bonus, let me also share my Kerala recipe with breadfruit, or kadachakka, as we call it.

Kadachakka Mezhukkupuratti Recipe

What I Used:

Breadfruit - 2 cups, chopped into slightly long cubes
Red chillies - 4, torn into pieces
Garlic - 4 pods, crushed
Turmeric - 1 pinch
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Salt - to taste
Oil - 1 tbsp

How I Made It:

1. Heat oil in a pan and throw in the mustard seeds. Once they start popping, lower the heat to minimum and add the garlic. Fry for a few seconds, making sure it doesn't burn.

2. Add the breadfruit pieces, turmeric, and the chillies and fry on medium-low fire until soft and cooked. Add salt when the vegetable is almost cooked. You can add a bit more oil if you feel the breadfruit is sticking to the pan. I used a non stick pan so ended up using not much oil.

The whole frying process takes about 10-12 mins so be patient. You can also add some curry masala or garam masala to spice it up a notch but I kept it very simple and basic.

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