Traditional Bengali jackfruit curry - enchorer dalna

Plant-based meat might be the latest revolution in the culinary world but Bengali kitchens had invented this long ago. Unripe tender jackfruits were cooked as pieces of meat by our grandmothers and their mothers. this was termed as a goat from the tree. In the olden days, when Bengalis lived in joint families and the Bengali society was conservative and bound by social stigma, widows in the family were not allowed to have non-vegetarian food. They had many restrictions in life so they lost all their desires, their daily food was mundane and very basic. To add some taste to their monotonous menu, they created some legendary cuisines with very basic ingredients that were indeed a culinary revolution. These illiterate widows have lots of contributions towards traditional Bengali cuisine.

Such is this dish made with unripe, tender jackfruits and spices that can compete with mutton or meat curry. The recipe here is slightly modified with the addition of onion and garlic. The original version did not use onion and garlic as widows in the olden days were prohibited from consuming these.

Ingredients:

Tender unripe jackfruit – 700 g cleaned, peeled and cut to cubes.
(it needs the skill to process the edible jackfruit, therefore it's advisable to get the ready-to-cook packs)

Potatoes – 500 g peeled, cut into quarters

Salt to taste

Turmeric – 2 tsp total

Garam masala whole – 5 green cardamoms, 1-inch cinnamon, 4-5 cloves

Garam masala powder - Green Cardamom 7pcs., Clove 5pcs. and Cinnamon 2inch Dry-roasted and powdered

Cumin seeds whole – ½ tsp

Bay leaf – 1 torn to pieces

Dried red chilli – 1

Onion – 1 chopped

Sugar – ¼ tsp

Ginger, garlic paste – 2 tbsp

Tomato – 1 chopped

Cumin powder – 1 tsp

Kashmiri red chilli – 1 tsp

Mustard oil – 300 g

Ghee – ½ tsp

Instructions:

Heat a skillet and add some water, add the jackfruits and cover it with enough water. Add ½ tsp salt and ½ tsp turmeric powder, cover it and bring to a boil for a couple of minutes. When it gets 50% soft take off the heat and set aside.

Place a skillet on heat add the mustard oil, as it smokes, add the potatoes, add ¼ tsp turmeric and fry well. When it's half done, take it off and set it aside.

In the same oil fry the boiled jackfruits and fry lightly. After it browns a little, take off the heat.

Add more oil and garam masala, bay leaf, cumin, dried red chilli, and chopped onion.

Add in a pinch of sugar and fry everything well until the onion turns golden brown colour.

Add 2 tbsp of ginger garlic paste and fry till the raw smell is gone for about four minutes.

Add the chopped tomato, 1 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp cumin powder, and 1 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder and sauté. Add a little water and sauté until the oil separates from the mixture.

Add the fried jackfruits and potatoes. Stir well with the spices mixture so that everything blends well.

Adjust with salt to taste and cover the lid for the potato and jackfruit to cook well.

Finish it with ¼ tsp garam masala powder and ½ tsp ghee.