Name – Wood
Apple (or elephant-apple,
monkey fruit or curd fruit and in Marathi - कवठ) Chutney / Souse
Type:
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Chutney / Souse
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Cold
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For: 16 persons
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Process: Pulping, Mashing, Grating, Mixing
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Dietary Value:
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Electrolytes and Iron (in Jaggery)
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Beta-Carotene, B vitamins: Thiamine, Riboflavin, Vit C
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Carbohydrates, Proteins (mainly
Seeds)
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Anti-Oxidants – Beta-Carotene
Fiber – Soluble and Insoluble
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Time:
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Preparation:
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5 min
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Serving:
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1 Sec
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Recipe:
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3 min
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Eating:
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20 min – During Meal
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Name:
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Wood Apple (कवठ - in Marathi) Chutney / Souse
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Preface:
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You don’t
have taste? Are you bored of eating routine food? Are you bored of life in
general? Then you need to make them both Colorful and Tasty.
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Will:
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Here is how you can do it. Just prepare this Chutney
and Taste it! Ttttak!!
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Pre-Preparation:
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·
But it is not
that simple. You have to get Wood Apple for that. You have to walk to the market, and you have to be
lucky enough to find them in the market (it is seasonal and rare and you must
be on the lookout). Or you should have the Tree in your courtyard. Or
somebody having the tree in his courtyard, but fortunately (for you) having
no taste for wood apple, should offer it to you.
·
When you get
it, GET IT. Then the life is tasty at least for one week.
·
If the aroma
spreads in the house, use it immediately. Otherwise wait. If you break it
before that, it is faint pinkish brown and has faint and sourish smell. It
also tastes sour and a bit bitterish TURAT. BUT DON’T WORRY. It’s hot and
sour Chutney also tastes good.
·
But be
patient and wait till it is ripe. (The Aroma in unmistakable.) Then break it
and scoop out the pulp. It is dark purplish brown. Taste it! Wow!! Ttttak!!!
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Preparation:
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Now we will
take equal quantity of grated jaggery, 1-2 teaspoons of red chili powder, ½
teaspoon cumin and coriander seed powder and salt to taste. Enough.
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Recipe:
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·
We will Mash
the pulp.
·
We will mix
all other ingredients and mash them again thoroughly. Then we will add some
Chakk, some Ttukk and a bit of Tyanww; taste it and keep it aside (at least
for 1 hour) for jaggery to get dissolved and to marinate. (Mash – Mix – Mash – done! … Simple. )
·
Then we will
taste it again to adjust and blend the tastes perfectly (really an excuse to
taste it).
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Fortification:
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·
In this
chutney we have already added jaggery (instead of sugar) that contains Iron
salt.
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Its seeds (after
thorough chewing), supply additional protein.
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It also
contains insoluble as well as soluble fiber.
·
The chutney
can be fortified by adding some coarsely ground groundnut or walnut
powder.
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Skills:
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·
Blending of
tastes is always more important in chutneys and souses. It’s like Harmony in
music. Particularly in case of This Chutney, when there is a strong
peculiar aroma in addition to blending of sweet, sour, salty, pungent and
TURAT tastes, it is more difficult. It requires training under expert guide;
prolonged practice, patience, intuition and inborn insight. And a bit of luck
(stage of ripeness and the taste of THAT wood apple).
·
But don’t be
afraid. As it is, it tastes good.
·
Otherwise
through it away without hesitation. Better luck next time.
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Decoration:
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It decorates
the dinner plate. It need not be decorated.
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Serving:
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… ?
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Savoring:
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While eating meals or snacks, intermittent spontaneous
uncontrollable sounds of Ssssk, … SsssS, … Ch, … Chak, and … Tttak!
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Thoughts & Afterthoughts
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·
Without any
preservatives its shelf-life is 3-4days and 7-8 days in Fridge (but it
doesn’t last that long).
·
This can be
used as a chutney, souse and Jam (with more jaggery or sugar and without
chili powder) or in a gravy.
·
It has a
jellifying property. So it can be used to prepare Jelly, Jam, or Burfi. We
will learn to do them soon.
·
Culinary art
is really an inborn quality. Very few people are gifted with that. And
‘Blending Perfection’ is a subject of PhD.
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Few people,
who don’t like Wood Apple Aroma, can also be there. To say the least, they
are unfortunate.
·
With tasty
food life also becomes tasty and interesting.
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