It is officially summers when you spot Raw Jackfruit or Kathal in the market. Raw Jackfruit is called as Idichakkai or Chakkai in South India and Kathal in Northern part of India. Also termed as “mock meat” in other parts of the world, this plant based ingredient is Vegan and Gluten Free, also known as the “Vegetarians Meat” due to its look, feel and texture. So, blogging today about an exciting new recipe – The Raw Jackfruit Cutlet or Kathal Cutlet, a Vegetarian, Gluten Free and Vegan Snack, No Onion No Garlic Starter or Appetizer, made in an Air Fryer.
Indian Summers means kids vacation, which also means high demand for snacks. Variety is a must! These Air fried Cutlets would certainly be enjoyed by kids after playing out in the hot sun. It could be also packed in their tiffin boxes for summer camps etc too. Kids should be encouraged to eat seasonal foods that boost their immunity and Jackfruit (both raw and ripe) are extremely great for the body during summers.
Raw Jackfruit or Kathal or Chakkai is now on my weekly vegetable shopping list for the next 3 months. Both Raw and Ripe ones. We Palakkad Iyers make a wonderful Thoran with Kathal or Raw Jackfruit called Idichakkai Thoran with generous amounts of grated coconut ground with green chillies and some cumin seeds. This is one of the must have thorans or stir fry recipes for Vishu Sadya menu during this season. Since Jackfruits hit the market right about the time of Vishu festival (April), the use of ripe and raw jackfruits are seen extensively in our sadya menu in the form of chips, papad, payasam or kheer and thorans.
While eating Jackfruit is an enjoyable process, the chopping is somehow a pet peeve for many. The Ripe Jackfruits can still be handled but the raw jackfruit is slightly tricky with all the sticky white fibrous part making your hands, knife even the chopping board messy.
My Appa (dad) taught me how to cut the Jackfruit with expertise. He was a big fan of both the fruit and raw ones so he often bought a large Jackfruit home and sat with oiled hands, newspaper laid on the floor, carefully slicing and chopping the pieces. However, most of the vegetable vendors these days have sharp knives and happily do the slicing (in case of the raw jackfruit) for you. It however, tends to turn brown quickly.
For making the Air Fryer Raw Jackfruit Cutlet or Kathal Cutlet, you need very few ingredients and an Air Fryer, of course! Make sure you serve these hot with a Green Coriander Chutney and some ketchup for the sweet taste. Slice some onions and serve separately to add a punch. A small salad on the side makes it a complete meal.
The Air Fryer Version of the Raw Jackfruit cutlet or Kathal Cutlet is especially a boon during hot summers when you don’t wish to stand in front of the gas stove and cook or fry cutlets. You can let the air fryer do the job with very less assistance. Frankly, my husband did the final batch of air frying while I was shooting the pictures for the blog. So easy!
Interested in some low calorie, no fry snack options that can double as after school snacks, vacation treats and/or tea time snacks too? Do check out Oats and Paneer Tikkis, Broccoli Corn Balls and Low Oil Oats and Rajma tikkis.
Let us now look at the easy recipe of this delicious summer favourite snack or appetizer, Air Fryer Jackfruit Cutlet or Kathal Cutlet.
Recipe of Air Fryer Jackfruit Cutlet or Kathal Cutlet with step by step pics
Prep Time – 20 to 30 mins
Cook time – 45 mins
Serves 4 nos. as snacks.
Ingredients
- 500 gms of Whole Raw Jackfruit
- 5 small potatoes
- 2.5 tblsps Rice Powder
- 1 tsp Red chilli powder
- 1 tsp Garam Masala powder
- 1.5 tblsps oil to brush over the cutlets
- Salt to taste
- Finely chopped coriander leaves
Method
Note – Apply coconut oil to your hand and knife while dealing with Jackfruit. It tends to get sticky. Use good quality sharp knife. Jackfruit tends to discolour easily so keep a bowl of water ready to immerse the chopped pieces.
(1) Slice the green part of the raw jackfruit, remove the hard centre and roughly chop them into pieces. Give it a rinse, drain water and sprinkle salt.
(2) Wash, peel the potatoes and cube them. sprinkle salt.
(3) Pressure cook both potatoes and jackfruit separately with no water for 6-7 whistles or until they have cooked well.
(4) Once cooked, mash the potatoes as shown below.
(5) Using a fork, press the cooked jackfruit so that it appears shredded instead of mashing it completely.
(6) Combine both the ingredients, add rice flour, salt to taste, red chilli powder, garam masala powder and finely chopped coriander leaves. Note – We have already added salt while cooking Jackfruit and Potatoes separately so add salt with caution, after tasting.
(7) Mix well, shape them into round cutlets and refrigerate for 30 mins before air frying.
(8) Brush some oil on both sides of the cutlets before placing it inside the Air fryer mesh (as shown below). Cook these for about 10 mins at 180 degrees. Remove, flip and cook for another 5 mins at 180 degrees to achieve the golden brown crisp colour.
(9) Repeat the process with the other cutlets. Place around 7-8 cutlets at a time and not over crowd them so they develop the colour and texture.
(10) Using the above recipe, I made 18 cutlets in about 30 mins.
Recipe Notes
- These cutlets can be easily refrigerated and air fried the next day. The Air Fried cutlets stays fresh for 2 days in the refrigerator.
- By all means, you can brush butter or clarified butter / ghee too over the cutlets but we have kept it simple and used oil.
- Add any other spices that you desire. I honestly wanted the Jackfruit taste to shine throughout and hence avoided the spice / herbs overload.
- Adjust red chilli powder and garam masala powder according to your taste and preferences.
- Refrigerating cutlets or tikkis is highly recommended for that perfect end result. Resting also allows the flavours to seep in.
If you try this recipe at home, please give me a shout out / Tag Me on any of my social media handles.
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Vidya Narayan
Anil Raj Kapur
22 Mar 2019Thank you far a fabulous recipe… just one question can we deep or pan fry these cutlets?
Vidya Narayan
22 Mar 2019My pleasure – You can pan fry these cutlets after 30 minutes of refrigeration by heating a pan, adding some oil and pan frying or shallow frying as required. In case you wish to deep fry, please add about 1/4 cup of bread crumbs additionally to get a crispy crunchy cutlet and it would also avoid breakage of the cutlets. However, in case of adding the breadcrumbs, the recipe would not be gluten free or vegan. Thank you for stopping by!
amazinglife09
22 Mar 2019Very well explained with lovely pics. Looks mouth watering. will try soon making it. Thank you for sharing this. https://travelandhikewithpcos.com/
Vidya Narayan
23 Mar 2019My pleasure. Thanks for stopping by.
Tasty Eats Ronit Penso
22 Mar 2019I’ve never used Jackfruit, and am not sure where to get it, but this makes me want to look for it. 🙂
Vidya Narayan
23 Mar 2019Hey, you would get this in an Indian Supermarket for sure. Thanks and I hope you do try having the raw jackfruit and the ripe one some day. It is delicious.
Tasty Eats Ronit Penso
23 Mar 2019Thank you, I’ll definitely try to find both. 🙂
Anita
23 Mar 2019Very simple and healthy yrecipe.i don’t have air fryer shall pan fry and give you the feedback
Vidya Narayan
23 Mar 2019Hi Anita, oh yes after 30 minutes of refrigeration, you can pan fry these on a hot griddle. Would give you the same result. Hope you like them and thank you for stopping by.
Bernice
25 Mar 2019They look delicious!
Vidya Narayan
25 Mar 2019Thanks so much