Recipies

Chekké Pappada (Spicy Ripe Jackfruit Wafers) by Deepa Chengappa

Ingredients: 

1 kg half ripe jackfruit bulbs de-seeded.

Salt to taste.

1 spoon coriander seed fried and crushed.

6 green chillies (parangi malu) or red dry chillies.

Method:

Steam the jackfruit bulbs in pressure cooker without using the weight. Drain the excess water. Coarsely grind the jackfruit bulbs with the above ingredients.  Knead it into a dough make small balls. Take two plastic sheets, place the ball between the sheets and press it in hand to make round thin pappadas. You could also use the roti press machine to make thin pappadas. 

Spread it on a neat cloth/ plastic sheet and dry in the Sun by turning it on both sides. When it has dried completely, store them in air tight jars. Deep fry them in oil and enjoy the crispy pappadas.  

Tip: While Sun drying pappadas, you can cover them with old baby mosquito nets to protect from birds/ ants nibbling into it.

About The Contributor:

Ballachanda Deepa Chengappa, who works for IBM in Bangalore, has this fetish for reading recipe books with tempting food pictures. For Deepa, cooking is a stress-buster. She says: “I switch off all the other thoughts while cooking. I grind, chop and mince all the unwanted thoughts when I cook.”

Deepa likes variety in food, and loves the Coorg cuisine the best. “I believe the aroma of the food is the key to good food. It should never be too strong or too pungent. Coorg cuisine has a very distinct flavour.”

She recalls that as a kid, she enjoyed the summer vacation in Coorg, which involved playing in the stream, catching small fish, etc. Deepa’s cousin, Chandra akka, would pamper her by preparing Koovale  puttu and Chekke pappada.  Chekke pappada was Deepa’s all-time favourite snack.