Jackfruit curry is a delicious vegan curry made with lots of flavorful spices. This tastes similar to meat curry because of its texture of raw jackfruit and the blend of spices it cooked with. This curry is vegan, gluten-free & made in Indian style.
Jackfruit or Kathel or fanas is a popular dish in India. This is a seasonal fruit. The raw fruit is used as a vegetable, especially in the spring season (pre-summers). This is heavy and not easily digested because of the heat.
Be careful if you have elderly people at home as they might face stomach upset with eating an excess amount of jackfruit. (This is from my personal experience).
This is a vegetarian replacement for meat. This not only looks like one of them but also tastes similar when cooked. Why I said this is it is prepared and tastes the same as meat. If you prepare this curry in the mentioned way, trust me it tastes no less than your chicken or meat curry.
Jackfruit Curry in Indian Style (Kathal Ki Sabzi)
This curry can be easily prepared in 15 minutes with ready to use Indian curry paste. Why every time I insist on keeping this curry paste ready is to save your cooking time. With refrigerated curry paste you will save 15 – 20 minutes of your cooking time. Many times we tend to change the menu thinking that preparing this dish is time consuming. But if you have all ingredients ready then it won’t take much time and efforts for cooking.
Ready to use curry paste with whole spices
How to make kathal ki sabzi or jackfruit curry?
January to April is the perfect season if you wish to eat the best quality jackfruit (the raw ones). After that, it’s the season for ripe jackfruit (when summers arrive). And you may not get good quality tender raw jackfruit in the market.
Step – 1 – Prep the jackfruit
Again when I purchase jackfruit/ kathal from the market, I get it cut from the vendor only as this is sticky, gummy which makes it difficult to cut and time-consuming also.
If you are chopping at home, then apply oil on your palm and knife before holding it or chopping. This helps to keep your hands clean as the gummy raisin will not stick easily to greasy hands and knives. And it will help in easier chopping. Remove the thick center layer as well.
Step – 2 – Shallow-fry Jackfruits
For better taste, stir-fry jackfruit in oil for 5 minutes or till it’s 50% cooked and looks a little charred. It takes less than 30 minutes to prepare 5 – 6 servings of this curry. Fry in batches and don’t over-crowd the pan with all pieces together if making in larger quantity.
Step – 3 – Prepare the curry paste
If you don’t have ready-made curry paste, then you can prepare instantly. I blend all ingredients together including the whole spices. This saves a lot of time.
It’s a myth that whole spices will lose fragrance if blend together with onion paste. I don’t see any difference in flavor. On contrast, I like it even more fragrant and balanced (not too strong aroma of whole spices)
Ingredients for jackfruit curry paste:
4 onions + 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste + 1 green chilli + 5 cloves + 4 green cardamoms + 1 inch cinnamon stick + 7 -8 black pepper + 3 tsp coriander powder + 1 tsp red chilli powder + 1 tsp cumin powder + 1/2 tsp turmeric powder.
Grinding whole spices will not reduce their aroma. all of them in one go. The aroma will not evaporate and trust me dish will be equally tasty.
One thing if you want your curry to look red then add 1/2 tsp red chilli powder first before adding the paste. This will give more color to the curry.
Step – 4 – Cook the gravy & add fried jackfruits
Heat oil in a pan/ pot/ kadhai. Then put 1 bay leaf. Pour in the curry paste and saute for 10 – 12 minutes, till it starts releasing oil and cooked nicely. Add little water slowly and gradually as in required.
Once you see the curry paste is cooked add the pan-fried jackfruit pieces and simmer for 10 – 15 minutes till jackfruit is cooked soft. If required add little water while simmer the curry.
In the end garnish with freshly chopped coriander leaves and serve the delicious meaty jackfruit with rice or any flatbreads.
Here I would request you to read other similar posts like mushroom matar masala, paneer tikka masala, gatte ki sabzi, palak paneer. Also read matar paneer curry, dum aloo, bagara baingan, lauki kofta curry, malai kofta curry, shaam savera curry.
Recipe Card For Jackfruit Curry or Kathal Sabzi
Jackfruit Curry in Indian Style
Ingredients
- 1 kg Jack fruit/ Katahal/ Fanas Peeled & Diced
- 1 tsp Salt as per taste
- 7 - 8 tbsp Refined oil
- 1 tsp Cumin seed
- 1 tbsp Red Chilli Powder- (as per taste)
- 2 tbsp Coriander Powder
- 1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder
- 1/4 tsp Garam Masala
- 2 Green Chilli
- 1 tbsp Ginger Garlic Paste
- 1/4 inch Cinnamon stick
- 1/4 tsp Or cinnamon powder
- 8 Black Pepper
- 1/4 tsp Or black pepper powder
- 5 Cloves
- 5 Cardamom Small
- 4 Onion Diced
- 1 Bay Leaf
- 1 tbsp Coriander Leaves
Instructions
- Grind onion, ginger garlic paste, green chillies, cinnamon stick ½ inch, black pepper, cloves, cardamom and 1 tsp cumin seed into fine paste.
- Heat one frying pan or kadai on high flame. Put 8-10 tbsp oil to it. Shallow fry diced jackfruit or katthal till half cooked and turns brown.
- Remove fried jackfruit from pan.
- Remove if excess oil is left or add oil if no oil left in pan after frying. Once Oil is hot put one bay leaf.
- Then add ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder & ¼ teaspoon chilli powder. This will give rich color to the gravy. Then immediately add onion paste. Sauté for 5-6 mins on medium flame till onion paste leaves oil and cooked completely.
- Then add coriander powder, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and mix it well. Add 4-5 tbsp water and sauté masalas for 2-3 mins more. Add salt as per taste.
- Once the masala is cooked with aroma, add fried jackfruit to it. Sauté for 5mins. Add 1 cup of water to it and cook for 15 – 20 mins in low flame. Cover with a lid. Stir occasionally to check.
- You can adjust water as per your taste. If you like to have thick gravy, add lesser water. If you wish to have it with bit more gravy like then add ½ glass water more to the curry.
- Garnish it with freshly chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with paratha, chapatti, poori or rice.
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