Halasina hannina Payasa or Jackfruit Kheer

Jackfruit is my second favorite fruit just after mango. A lot of jackfruits grow in my ancestral place near Mangalore. So during my childhood days, during the summer vacation, we used to spend about a month there. My cousin and me of course were big fans of this lovely fruit. As soon as the fruit was ready to eat , we would volunteer will our whole heart to cut the fruit and separate the jackfruit pods and deseed them. It was a messy affair but it was well worth it for us as we were rewarded some extra pods just for helping in the cutting process. In South kanara, we make a lot of dishes using jackfruits.
Some of them are:

• Halasina hannina paayasa 
• Halasina hannina appa
• Halasina hannina gatti
• Halasina hannina  oggarne

and many others. I will write about the paayasa or kheer today and write about the rest at a later time.
RECIPE SOURCE: A book named Udupi Cuisine by U.B.Rajalakshmi. 

So the recipe goes as follows:

INGREDIENTS:

• Jackfruit(finely chopped): 1 cup 
• Jaggery(grated) : 1/2 cup
• Thick Coconut milk: 1/2 cup
• Maida or all purpose flour : 1 and 1/2 tsp
• A pinch of salt
• Cardamom powder or elaichi powder - 1/4 tsp

METHOD:

• Heat 1 cup of water. Add the jaggery to it and bring it to a boil. The jaggery will melt by this time.
• Now add the chopped jackfruit . Mix the maida with some water and add it to the jackfruit. Cook in medium heat till the jackfruit has cooked and become soft. 
• Once the jackfruits have cooked, lower the heat and and add salt and the coconut milk and mix well.
• Simmer for some time and lastly add the cardamom powder and turn off the heat. Serve warm. ENJOY!!

Note:

• If you donot have access to fresh jackfruit, you can always use the canned varieties available in the Indian grocery stores. I usually get "CHAOKOH" brand of jackfruits in syrup. It has a net weight of 20 oz and drained weight of 8 oz. When using the canned kinds, make sure you drain the syrup and lightly wash the jackfruit pods and then finely chop them.
• You can use fresh coconut milk or canned varieties. Again I use the "Chaokoh" brand of coconut milk.

Sending this recipe to "Bookmarked recipes- Every Tuesday event" hosted at US Masala.