Chakkakuru Manga Curry

Jackfruit seeds and sour green mango simmered in a yellow gravy of ground coconut, chilli, and cumin, tempered with mustard seeds, shallots, and curry leaves

Origin: Kerala, India

From the journey of Jackfruit.

The jackfruit's seeds, chakkakuru, are too good to throw away, and Kerala cooks keep them through the season for curries, stir-fries, and snacks. The curry that pairs them with sour green mango, manga, belongs to the months when both trees are bearing: the seeds are boiled until they are creamy, the mango softened with them, and both simmered in a yellow gravy of coconut ground with chilli, turmeric, and cumin, then tempered with mustard seeds, shallots, and curry leaves and eaten with rice. Every traveller who tasted jackfruit seeds reached for the same comparison. Ma Huan, who sailed with the Ming fleets in the 1410s, said the roasted seed tasted like a chestnut; Antonio Pigafetta said so at Cebu in 1521; and Robert Knox wrote in 1681 that the kernels 'do very much resemble Chesnuts both in colour and tast, and are almost as good'. Niccolò de' Conti, who travelled in India in the first half of the fifteenth century, added a warning that still holds: a seed thrown into the embers without a cut in it will explode and jump out of the fire. Both ingredients have Malayalam names that travelled. The Portuguese made chakka into jaca and the English into 'jack', and the Tamil and Malayalam word for the green mango became, through the Portuguese manga, the English 'mango'.

Ingredients

Curry

25 jackfruit seeds (about 200 g), white outer skin removed and halved
1 sour green mango (about 250 g), cut into 3 cm pieces, skin on
0.5 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
1 tsp salt
500 ml water

Coconut Paste

120 g freshly grated coconut
2 green chillies
0.5 tsp cumin seeds
2 small shallots

Tempering

1.5 tbsp coconut oil
0.5 tsp black mustard seeds
2 dried red chillies
3 small shallots, thinly sliced
1 sprig curry leaves

Method

Split the papery white outer skin of each seed with the tip of a knife and pull it away. Leave the thin brown inner skin on, and halve the seeds.
Put the seeds in a pan with the turmeric, chilli powder, salt, and water. Cover and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes, until a seed crushes easily between the fingers.
Add the mango and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, until it is soft but holding its shape.
Grind the coconut, green chillies, cumin, and shallots to a smooth paste with a little water.
Stir the paste into the pan and simmer gently for 5 minutes, adding a little water if the gravy is too thick. Do not let it boil hard.
For the tempering, heat the coconut oil, add the mustard seeds, and when they pop add the dried chillies, the sliced shallots, and the curry leaves. Fry until the shallots are golden, then pour everything over the curry.
Serve with red Kerala rice.

Notes

Never eat jackfruit seeds raw. Unpeeled seeds keep for two or three weeks in a cool, dry place. Some cooks add a few pieces of drumstick or of raw jackfruit with the mango.

The Gastrographer

Name: Chakkakuru Manga Curry
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 4
Cuisine: India
Ingredients: 25 jackfruit seeds (about 200 g), white outer skin removed and halved; 1 sour green mango (about 250 g), cut into 3 cm pieces, skin on; 0.5 tsp ground turmeric; 1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder; 1 tsp salt; 500 ml water; 120 g freshly grated coconut; 2 green chillies; 0.5 tsp cumin seeds; 2 small shallots; 1.5 tbsp coconut oil; 0.5 tsp black mustard seeds; 2 dried red chillies; 3 small shallots, thinly sliced; 1 sprig curry leaves

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control