The sweet smell of jackfruit is something really wonderful. Every time I go home, we get a whole jackfruit gifted by an uncle whom we know. “let the kids have it” , he would tell Amma. And by kids, he means me and my older brother :D.

This is the only gift my mother doesnt like, because there is a lot of work in getting the fruit ready. That’s when appa and I step in. If my sister in law is at home, she too joins us.

I feel that the fun is cleaning it up, because by the time my father and I are done with peeling, half the fruit will be inside our stomach!!

For smaller fruits, we don’t bother making this varatti, but this time we had enough fruit (even after eating a lot).

This is my entry for Blogging Marathon 27 ,a non stop 30 day marathon this month. Check out the page for more details and to peek into what the other participants are serving at their spaces!

Makes : about 1.5 cups

Ingredients:

• Ripe jackfruit (chakka) : 1.5 cups of puree
• Jaggery : 3/4 cup (or more, per taste)
• Ghee : 2 tbsp (can add more, if preferred)

Method:

1. Puree the ripe jackfruit, keep aside. Another method (my mother’s) is to cook the jackfruit in a pressure cooker for a whistle or two and then cook it in the jaggery. You shouldn’t be pureeing it if you are doing this way.
2. Melt jaggery in 1/4 cup water. Filter it using a tea strainer or a muslin cloth. This step is to remove the impurities in jaggery.
3. In a thick bottomed pan, add the filtered jaggery, the pureed jackfruit and let it cook, mixing every now and then. Its a good idea to keep an eye on it, else it might burn and the whole effort will be wasted.
4. It takes around 20-30 minutes for the varatti to come together for this quantity. Add half of the ghee midway the rest towards the end. When almost all the liquid is gone, you can switch off the burner and let the varatti sit in the vessel for sometime for it to come together.