Made with one of our favorite seasonal fruits, Chakka Appam has the goodness of ripe jackfruit, jaggery, and coconut. A must have on your visit to Kerala, for sure.
When the whole country awaits mangoes in summer, we, Malayalees relish our jackfruits! Yes, some varieties of jackfruits even beat the sweetness of honey. I am glad that I came home this month for I’m getting to devour all these yummilicious fruits.
There are so many different varieties of dishes, including savory and sweet, that we make out of jackfruit. When compared to Kethal ki Sabji from the Northern parts of the country, these are too good to be true. Yes, I am biased that way for I know how delicious the food made from jackfruit can be.
Just like Banana Fritters, Chakka Appam is one of the popular tea-time snacks in Kerala. Made with ripe jackfruit, jaggery, grated coconut, and rice flour, these steamed jackfruit cakes are definitely a delicacy that should be relished on your trip to Kerala in summers.
Chakka Appam itself can be made in different ways. You first make a dough out of pureed ripe jackfruit, jaggery, grated coconut, and rice flour. A small portion of this dough is kept on a piece of banana leaf and flattened with the palm of your hand and is wrapped and steamed. Instead of banana leaf, you can also use the Indian Bay Leaf or Vazhanayila (in Malayalam). I tried my best to get hold of a few leaves but couldn’t manage yet (I guess, I will get it tomorrow; if so, I shall click more pics and upload the Vazhanayila Chakka Appam too).
Also known as Kumbilappam, if you choose to make this in bay leaves, it shall infuse the richness of bay leaves as well to the appam.
Recipe for Chakka Appam:
Made with one of our favorite seasonal fruits, Chakka Appam has the goodness of ripe jackfruit, jaggery, and coconut. A must have on your visit to Kerala, for sure.
Ingredients
- 500gms fresh ripe jackfruit
- 1 cup Jaggery, grated
- 3/4 cup Coconut, grated
- 1/2 cup Rice flour
- 1/2 tsp Cardamom powder
- Salt, to taste
- Banana leaves, to wrap
- Water, for steaming
Instructions
- Make a puree of the jackfruits.
- To the same puree in a blender, add grated coconut, jaggery and cardamon powder. Puree again.
- Remove to a bowl, add rice flour and salt.
- Make a wet dough. Neither will it be too liquidy nor will it be like roti dough.
- Place a piece of the cleaned banana leaf and brush with a little ghee.
- Keep a small portion of the dough on it.
- Press with the palm of your hand and spread.
- Fold/wrap the leaf and steam both sides for about 15 minutes.
- Serve hot with evening tea.
That’s all for now!
Have you tried Chakka Appam?
I hope you’ll drop by tomorrow too.
My theme for the A to Z Challenge this year is ’26 Kerala Dishes that have my heart’, where I would share a multitude of vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes from the Spice Capital of the World- Kerala!
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327 total views, 1 views today
Kala Ravi says
April 16, 2019 at 9:21 amThe pics are mouth-watering Shlu! Though I have never made this myself, my mil makes this quite well and quite often too! Love it
Shilpa Garg says
April 11, 2019 at 11:02 pmInteresting dish. I have never had ripe jackfruit or any dish prepared with it, Here in North india, we use the unripe version and that too as a vegetable. Hope to taste chakka appam sometime!!
Manas Mukul says
April 11, 2019 at 10:12 pmI like appam…i love jackfruit…i am sure i will love this also. Your digital editing is as good as your posts.
#ContemplationOfaJoker #Jokerophilia
zainab says
April 11, 2019 at 7:52 pmI haven’t really tried any appam. Your posts always make me hungry 😛
Soumya says
April 11, 2019 at 6:23 pmI’m salivating just looking at this. I love Jackfruit and I cannot wait to try this at home. Seems healthy as well 🙂
Priyanka Nair says
April 11, 2019 at 6:04 pmChakka Appam, I liked it once my Muttashi made it when I was in Kerala.
Sreevas says
April 11, 2019 at 3:21 pmReminds me of my home. Thanks
Vartika Gakhar says
April 11, 2019 at 2:59 pmI wonder how you have a pandora’s box full of interesting recipes. I am loving your posts.
abhijit says
April 11, 2019 at 12:32 pmLooks interesting. In West Bengal we eat jack fruit as a fruit, most commonly. Unripe jack fruit is made a curry. Some call it vegetarian mutton and cooked accordingly.
Rachna Parmar says
April 11, 2019 at 12:24 pmYum! I do savour jackfruit. I started relishing this fruit once I moved to Bangalore. Jackfruit appam sounds super tasty. I wish I could find it here.
Shubhra Rastogi says
April 11, 2019 at 11:22 amSince I love jackfruit, I was wondering how appam would look like and I was amazed by the pictures. I am definitely going to try this. This looks really yummy.
Suhasini says
April 11, 2019 at 10:39 amNever knew one can make Appam from Jackfruit too. Have to try it once
Shalini says
April 11, 2019 at 10:41 amOh you must!
anupriya says
April 11, 2019 at 9:38 amThe recipe looks great ofcourse. But your posts are visibly so pleasing that I love to just scroll through this blog site just like that. Keep up the excellent work.
Shalini says
April 11, 2019 at 10:47 amAh, it means a lot. Thanks a lot, Anupriya!
Sundari Venkatraman says
April 11, 2019 at 9:19 amYour post and pics made me drool. So yummy I can almost smell the appam. I love jackfruits. Slurp!
Shalini says
April 11, 2019 at 10:48 amThank you, Mam.
Mayuri Nidigallu says
April 11, 2019 at 9:14 amI had no clue that a dish like this existed! I LOVE Jackfruit and I LOVE Appams , and this has both! Those pics have me drooling, Shalini. I wish I could have this right now.
Deepika says
April 11, 2019 at 8:32 amI tested the sweetness of ripening jackfruit. It’s amazing. I never tasted the dish but it is looking delicious and the picture of the ripen jack fruit is inviting me.
Sitharaam Jayakumar says
April 11, 2019 at 7:32 amI am just about to have breakfast in the canteen in Infopark and reading your post has made my mouth water for a bit of jackfruit appam. But I doubt if they would have it on their menu because the only kind of appam they have is the plain one. Another thing I love in Kerala is the PAzhampuri and I also find Malayalees like to put Pineapple pieces in Sambar. Loved the recipe. Will try it out sometime.
Samira Gupta says
April 11, 2019 at 12:21 amGetting to know so many new dishes through your blog. Really nice to follow you