Ingredients

1. Young green jackfruit – I tin (540 gms net wt, 270 gms drained wt)
2. Potato (big) – 1 (around 265 gms)

Boiling Jackfruit:

3. Water – 3 cups
4. Ginger & garlic paste – 1 tsp
5. Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
6. Coriander powder – 1/2 tsp
7. Garam masala -1/2 tsp
8. Pepper powder – 1/2 tsp
9. Fennel seeds powder – 1/2 tsp
10. Kashmiri chilli powder – 1/2 tsp

For jackfruit mixture:

11. Oil – 3 tbsp
12. Shallots – 100 gms
13. Ginger & garlic paste – 2 tsp
14. Green chillies – 2
15. Kashmiri chilli powder – 1 tsp
16. Coriander powder – 1 tsp
17. Pepper powder – 1 tsp
18. Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
19. Fennel seeds powder – 1 tsp
20. Coriander leaves – 1/3 cup
21. Lemon juice – 1 tbsp

For coating/dredging/breading:

22. Flour / Maida – 3 tbsp
23. Water – 1/4 cup
24. Salt (optional) – a pinch
25. Breadcrumbs – 1 cup

For making breadcrumbs:

26. Bread – 3 slices

Optional ingredients:

27. Cashew nuts (optional) – 7
28. Raisins (optional) – 1 tbsp

Method

1. Finely chop the shallots & green chillies and keep them aside.
2. Boil the potato and allow it to cool.
3. Peel, mash and keep aside.
4. Heat oil in a pan and fry roughly chopped cashew nuts until light golden. This step is optional. You can even directly add the cashews to the jackfruit mixture just before making the balls.
5. Drain the water from the jackfruit and keep aside.

Boiling jackfruit:

6. Add all the spices to a vessel.
7. Add in 3 cups of water along with some salt to taste.
8. Bring the water to boil and add the tender jackfruit pieces and cook well.
9. I cooked until all the water is absorbed and all the flavour of the spices are absorbed by the jackfruit.
10. Allow it to cool and transfer to a plate.
11. Shred the jackfruit pieces & mince to the required texture as shown in the video. Alternatively, you can use a food processor to grind it to a coarse paste.
12. Heat oil in a pan. Add in the chopped onions and sauté until it is soft and translucent.
13. Add chopped green chillies and sauté for a few seconds.
14. Add in the ginger & garlic paste and cook until the rawness goes away.
15. Lower the flame, add all the dry spices and mix well. Cook for about a minute on a low flame. Take care not to burn this he spices.
16. Add the minced jackfruit to a pan and mix well with the onion mixture.
17. Cook for about 10 minutes on a low flame until the jackfruit is mixed well with the other ingredients in the mixture.
18. Switch off and allow the mixture to cool.
19. Refrigerate the jackfruit mixture for a couple of hours or overnight.
20. Remove the jackfruit mixture from the fridge about an hour before preparation to bring it to the room temperature.
21. Add the mashed potato to a wide bowl.
22. Add in the jackfruit mixture, coriander leaves, lemon juice and salt. Mix well.
23. Make equal sized round balls as shown in the video and keep aside.

Dredging/Breading:

24. Make flour paste by mixing flour and the required quantity of water. Optionally, you can also add a pinch of salt.
25. The paste should not be too thick or thin, but just enough to coat the balls nicely.
26. Keep the flour paste and breadcrumbs ready for dredging.
27. Dip the balls in the flour paste and then drop it in the breadcrumbs.
28. Roll the balls in the breadcrumbs to coat evenly and well. Keep the breaded balls in a separate plate.

Frying the croquettes:

29. Heat enough oil in a vessel for deep frying.
30. Check for the right temperature by dropping a small piece of the breadcrumbs. It should sizzle and immediately rise to the top if the temperature is right.
31. Do not stir immediately and turn gently after sometime to keep the coating intact.
32. Stir and turn occasionally to evenly cook.
33. Fry until the croquettes are golden brown in colour and crispy. It took me just over 4 minutes to cook.
34. Remove the fried croquettes to a kitchen tissue to remove excess oil.
35. Place the croquettes in a rack or in a sieve as shown in the video to help keep the croquettes nice and crispy.
36. I have served this with my homemade apricot chutney. You can serve this with any sauce or chutney you like.

Notes

1. You can also grind the raw jackfruit to a coarse paste and add directly to the onion spice mixture directly. Cook a bit longer until the jackfruit is nicely cooked and combined well with the onion mixture.
2. You can use biryani masala instead of the garam masala while boiling the jackfruit.
3. If you are using fresh jackfruit instead of tinned, just cook directly in the onion mixture until it is cooked. It will take more time compared to the tinned ones.
4. For making dry breadcrumbs, lightly toast the breadcrumbs and allow it to cool. Then, grind before storing it in an airtight container to get a long shelf life.