Experimenting in the Kitchen

It had been on my mind for a long time to try something new in the kitchen. But lately, due to other commitments, I hadn’t found the time to experiment with cooking, which I was really missing. I’ve always enjoyed spending time in the kitchen, but with the growing demands of the business, it was becoming difficult to make time for it.

Last year, a friend of mine suggested making jackfruit flour, and it turned out quite well. She mentioned that it’s good for diabetes, and even Google agreed on its benefits. The response was positive, so this summer, I decided to dry some raw jackfruit bulbs again. They turned out well, but then our grinder broke down, and it took a while to get it fixed. No one else was willing to grind the jackfruit flour for me, claiming that the grinder could jam. This made me quite nervous, thinking all my efforts would go to waste. For a month and a half, the dried jackfruit bulbs sat there, staring at me, especially when the torrential rains started. It was as if they were begging me to do something before they spoiled. Finally, the grinder came back, and I started the process of grinding one batch after another. I didn’t want to grind all the jackfruit flour at once, so I started with other ingredients. Eventually, the jackfruit bulbs went in, and about 15 to 20 kilos of flour was ready in no time!

Now that I had the flour, I was eager to experiment with it. Last year, I had tried making sweet sheera and thalipeeth with it, which turned out well. But I wanted to try something new this time. So, I decided on two things: to make laddus and dhokla using the jackfruit flour. I’ve used this flour for making dosas, rotis, and bhakris before, but these two dishes were new experiments. I’ll also share what went wrong with these attempts—after all, every experiment comes with its own set of learnings!

Experiment 1: Jackfruit Flour and Dal Flour Laddus

I took one cup each of jackfruit flour and dal flour, half to three-quarters of a cup of ghee, and one cup of powdered sugar. I roasted both flours in ghee until they were fragrant. Once it cooled down slightly, I added the powdered sugar, mixed everything well, and shaped them into laddus. This recipe yielded six laddus, each weighing about 45 to 50 grams. My laddus tend to be on the larger side—I find it hard to make smaller ones. The taste was good.

What went wrong-

  1. Roasting both flours together resulted in a slightly darker color. I think it’s because besan takes longer to roast, whereas jackfruit flour roasts quickly. Roasting them separately might have prevented this issue.
  2. Nitin found the laddus a bit sticky, though I didn’t notice it. Besan laddus are generally sticky if enough ghee is used. We prefer soft besan laddus in our house, so that might be why he found these sticky. Perhaps adding semolina or mixing jackfruit flour with another flour might have balanced it better.

 

Experiment 2: Jackfruit Flour Dhokla

For this, I took one cup of jackfruit flour and two tablespoons of fine semolina, mixed them with sour curd, and let the mixture soak for 15 minutes. Then, I added ginger-chili paste, a little sugar, and salt. Finally, I added a packet of Eno and steamed the dhokla.

What went wrong-

The dhokla didn’t rise as much as expected. Perhaps it was because I only made a small batch—usually, I make dhokla in larger quantities, where it rises better. Despite this, the taste was good overall.

Now, I’m curious to know what dishes you like to make. Please share your recipes, as I’d love to try making them myself!

P.S – If you want to try out these experiments, we have jackfruit flour available for sale—₹550 per kilo, with 250g pouch packing available.

Shilpa Nitin Karkare 

Tural, Sangameshwar

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