Jackfruit weds Bayleaves

On 14th of April

The marriage between the flavors of Jackfruit and Bay leaves is wonderful. To know the magical taste of those flavors, try Jackfruit Ada from God’s own country. I have always used dry bay leaf as a tempering ingredient in many dishes, but here those fresh one’s induces our palate to grab some, and not very often we get a chance to taste something like ‘Jackfruit Ada’ (Chekka Ada – Steamed Jackfruit dumplings), when a chance arise never miss anything, enjoy eating to the fullest.

The Rice is large, the sambar is thin, and coconuts in different forms are used from first to last course, (please give a break to the coconuts) these were the words I heard about the kerala cuisine from SAT’s mouth. Is that a complaint? But tell me which regional cuisine in India is perfect? And which one is not perfect? Every regional cuisine is unique and to me, no one knows all the dishes from a single region, tough you may be from the same region, finding faults and filing complaints with respect to cuisine and food is the easiest thing, but don’t forget that every one cannot have a bourdain’s palate.

Coming back to Jackfruit Ada, my sincere thanks to Radha Amma’s recipe, where the cooking is long and the result is impressive. Grind the jackfruit and sauté it with jaggery, cardamom powder, rice flour, coconuts and ghee. Keep stirring till the mixture becomes thick, divide into small portions and wrap in fresh bay leaf in the shape of small triangle. (How long this will take?) Then comes the interesting part, the marriage between the flavors, which is achieved by steaming the wrapped jackfruit dumplings for twenty minutes.

I ate three to four pieces and I couldn’t stop my fingers from picking another, when the numbers increased eight, I had to stop because my stomach needs some space for those large rice, thin sambar, wheat payasam and many. I didn’t forget to pack some Ada and on the way back home I dreamt of my next journey to gods own country.

I lost my memory card with all the photos ,waiting for another chance to carry those huge jackfruit with a bunch of bayleaf and smiling in front of the camera....not to forget the plate full of dumplings.