Friday, March 18, 2011

Enchor er Dalna -- green jackfruit curry

EnchorDalna1

I made enchor er dalna two weekends back. The basic recipe is same as my old one but it has been worked on and the rough edges polished over the years with helpful tips from the Mater.

This one was a hit with my non-Bong friend who fondly remembers "kathal" but has never dared the canned ones in the US. The canned jackfruit as I have said has a salty-sour undertone because of all that brine. I do wash in several changes of water and soak the pieces in fresh water overnight but even then the briny taste lingers.

You should really use the fresh ones if you can get some. Incidentally I did see fresh green jacfruit at the Indian grocers here but I have no clue or desire to chop a whole jackfruit, so there.

This time I tossed the jackfruit pieces with red chili powder, a little cumin powder and fried them with a sprinkle of sugar. This is how one of my Ma's house help would do it back home and though I never tasted it, Ma says it would make the curry more delicious. With fresh raw jackfruit, you can skip this step or do it without the sugar.

I also fried the onions and then made a paste instead of making a paste of raw onions. This makes the curry more rich and delicious than regular.

EnchorDalna2

I have updated the old recipe with Notes of my changes. So please go there if you have plans to cook up a delicious enchor dalna for the weekend.

The realization how fragile and powerless we are in the hands of nature kept me away from food this week.

Will be back next week.

11 comments:

  1. My MIL also fries the onions and tomatoes and then makes a purree, it tastes better. And do you know this was another Holi special at our place! I don't know where to find raw jackfruit now in bangalore

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  2. never tried frying the enchor. The canned ones don't really match up the real ones, but hen what choice do we have (i won't cut or peel a fresh one). amader barite, enchor most of the time pyaj chara holot - probably to fit it in my boroma's diet (widow). But ma would make it with onions to sometimes. haven't had this for such a long time. ebar bari giye khabo... simply love it.

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  3. I recently posted a green jackfruit recipe as well - Konkani though, since thats my only memory of eating green jackfruit. I dont think there are Tamil recipes for this.

    The frying must definitely make it more flavourful...and the onion base as well.

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  4. We don't get the unripe jackfruit here and I never cooked or tasted...
    This one is more appealing and the picture is awesome Sandeepa!

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  5. Great looking curry, very inviting,yet to try green jackfruit at home..

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  6. I remember my grandma making green jackfruit avial, never liked it as a kid but certainly want to try all that rejected stuff now :( Kathal khata kismatwala....thats from a rhyme I learnt in school:)

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  7. we ate some at the orissa food fest today - but it was in chinese sauce. terrible! I've eaten it just once!

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  8. Hello sandeepa,ami krittika tomar lekha ar tomar rcp,i love it. Amar ma r ranna kora echorer dalna amaro khub priyo. But never tried with fried onions,will try once. Loved the pictures also.

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  9. My mom's aunt had a tree in their backyard and she sent some amazing curries made with it. It tasted like tender meat to me. I bought this one in a tin and tried to recreate the recipe but failed miserably.

    This recipe of your looks delicious though.

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  10. nice blog u have here. would love to connect. feel free to link to me. hope to see u soon.
    food-fanatic.blogspot.com

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  11. Darun Pic,makes me hungry .. and frying enchor with dash of cumin powder+sugar+red pepper powder sounds so much interesting..eyikhane obosho kono oshobidhe neyi enchor paba jaye prochur ..canned ones doesn't match up to the original taste of green jackfruit..ami ek-ek kore tumaar post porchi onek din por ..bhalo theko..hugs and smiles

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