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September 13, 2007

Divkadgye Phodiyo (Breadfruit Fritters)



Bread fruit. I am not sure how many of you have actually heard about this fruit/vegetable, let alone seen/eaten it. There is a tree in the garden of my maternal grandparents in Matunga that yields this fruit. Bread fruit or divkadgi in konkani is a cousin of jackfruit (kadgi) and you can read more about it here.




I have not taken these pictures. I did a google image search for breadfruit and these emerged from there. I saved the pictures and so can't remember the sites from where I got them.




The picture above shows a cut breadfruit and the one below shows fruit on a branch. Since finding a tree or the fruit is a rarity, Amma used to get excited whenever she spoted either. And over the years, she has successfully managed to transfer that excitement to me.



I mentioned earlier that I am not too good at transliteration. I just read somewhere that this is also called jeevkadgi. To me it has always been divkadgi.



I had a chance to relish these deep fried beauties during my trip home a couple of weeks ago. Amma had brought a fruit from Bombay and I brought back half the fruit to Gurgaon as I was certain S had no idea what this fruit was and this would be chance to get him to enjoy something I have loved.



But I have had to eat these in moderation. Not just because they are deep fried food, but because breadfruit gives me a stomach ache in addition to being the gassy vegetable that it is. To counter this, I have asafoetida tablets immediately after my meal or drink buttermilk with loads of asafoetida.

1/2 small Breadfruit, peeled
1 1/2 tsp Asafoetida
2 tsp Chilli Powder
1 tsp Turmeric
2 tbsp Rice Flour
Salt to taste
Oil for frying



Cut the breadfruit lengthwise in 2 pieces. Cut each piece in 2 cm thick slices. You will be left with triangles like the ones in the picture.


Sprinkle the salt, asafoetida, turmeric and chilli powders over the pieces and mix well. Leave aside for 10-15 minutes.


Heat the oil in a kadhai.




Sprinkle the rice flour over the breadfruit pieces and make a coating of sorts. Deep fry the pieces in the oil and drain on a paper towel.


Enjoy these on the side with your main meal, as a starter or a snack.


The frying was done at Amma's place. When I was back in Gurgaon, I tried to follow the same procedure. Instead of frying, I smeared some oil over the pieces and baked them at 220 C for 10 minutes on each side. They didn't taste as great as the deep fried ones, but they weren't bad at all. We still enjoyed every piece along with our wine.


Off this goes to dear Asha as yet another entry for the RCI Karnataka event.

31 comments:

Viji said...

Interesting Raaga. Viji

Raaga said...

Thanks Viji. Do you get breadfruit there?

Anonymous said...

just a couple of days back i was wondering what this fruit @ pazhamudir nilayam was.

sunita said...

Lovely recipe. btw, where in Gurgaon do you live?...we've still got an apartment there :)

Finla said...

My mom used to make curry from bread fruit and they were delicious.
Your fry looks good

FH said...

Raaga, I was going to ask you about Jeegujje.I saw in a blog these huge slices of these fried and reminded me.Looks yum, thanks.I will take URL and last photo.Nope, I haven't eaten this in many yrs!!Lucky you!:)

Sreelu said...

Hmm never heard or eaten bread fruit, does it taste like jackfruit

Mishmash ! said...

Like your amma, I also get excited whenever I see breadfruit...we call this kadachakka in Kerala and mostly make a sauteed dish with grated coconut :)

Shn

TBC said...

hmm.... I thought it WAS jackfrut till I read the whole thing through.
Fritters sound good.:)

Anonymous said...

Kadgi is my favorite in everything. Baked Phodiyo, ghashi with teppal etc. Have not tried the fried variety though. The Kadgi available here in cans just does not do it:-(

Aarti said...

hey lady

Now,taht looks familiar too..hehehe..

btw,do we get em here??not seen them anywhere, infact chked out pazhamudir today wen i went n they dint know, i dint know its tamil name.. so we were stuck...

btw- what does this fruit taste like? looks a lot like jackfruit...
:)

Suganya said...

Tell me what do you call em in Tamil.

Siri said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Siri said...

Hey Raaga, never heard of breadfruit.. had to google about it to know more..:D.. nice , yum photos..:)

Rajitha said...

looks yummy raaga..i was going to say ..wow i have never eaten these..but after mishmash gave the malayalam name..i have to say i have..but sadly do not remem the taste..i have had it once at my attai's place in kannoor..

Anonymous said...

We used to have a breadfruit tree back home. Its been year since i've had some.

Sharmi said...

I have never tasted breadfruit. very informative and crunchy looking. I dont find them here:(

Kribha said...

Oh raaga...It looks very nice. I've never heard about this fruit before. When I saw the first pic, I thought it was a jackfruit. Thanks for all the info and beautiful pics.

Linda said...

Raaga, if I could only find breadfruit! Looks wonderful :)

Cynthia said...

I love breadfruit cooked like this! And of course, I want mine with a cup of tea :D

Roopa said...

nice pictures i wanted to make some for tomorrow :)! mine is different version !again my favorite nice entry!

Raaga said...

@Lakshmi:I've not seen this in any store in Madras... but then again, I haven't gone veggie shopping in Madras in 10 years... makes a huge difference.

@Sunita: Small world :-) we're in DLF City, near the golf course.

@Happy: We also make a dry curry and a gravy curry, but given how rare this is, we end up making this all the time :-)

Raaga said...

@Ashakka: I know... the timing of this couldn't have been better. I'd also not eaten this in years :-)

@Sreelu: Better... at least to me :-)

@Shn: Hmmm... we too make that sauteed dish, but this is our favourite version :-)

Raaga said...

@TBC: you're not alone :-)

@Red: I tried the baked phodiyo for the first time and it turned out nice. Fresh is what it has to be :-)

@Aarti & Suganya: I have no idea what the tamil name is. Maybe Lakshmi can help :-)

Raaga said...

@Siri: Good good :-) this is a yummy dish.

@Rajitha: The fruit is a little sweet but otherwise tastes like potato and jackfruit mixed maybe? Can't describe the taste :-(


@Gini: So on your next trip, you can have some more :-)

Prajusha said...

raaga,
bread fruit (kadachakka in malayalam)looks nice. My mom used to make masala curry with this.

Latha Narasimhan said...

This is some thing original from the region!Good work raaga!
I did'nt understand what went wrong! can you please explain?

musical said...

Where did you find the breadfruit?
I love jigujje, miss the bajjis and phodis i enjoyed so much in Bangalore!

Anonymous said...

Hi Raaga, moved to the caribbean 2years ago, never seen or heard of a breadfruit till then, i love it and eat it all the time when it is in seasonn. What i would like to ask is can it be frozen ? I have asked my neighbours, some say yes and others say no. Would like your opinion please on this.

s_thyng said...

Herman Melville, author of Moby Dick wrote an earlier book, called OMOO, in 1842 or so about adventures on Tahitian and Hawaian Islands where he ate bread fruit regularly.

Raaga said...

@Anon:
I've never frozen the fruit. I get it so rarely that I use it up immediately.

@S_Thyng: That is really so good to know. I had no idea about the book although I've read Moby Dick!