Eggless Nutty Jackfruit & Tender coconut Cupcakes

I usually prefer fruit flavored muffins or cakes over plain ones! I also learnt from my baking experiments that fruits like banana, apple, jackfruit etc… make a good replacement for eggs. A jackfruit flavored bake was in to do list for a long time. Finally, I got a very sweet & tasty jackfruit yesterday from a neighbor. I couldn’t wait more to do it and yes, I did it. I had about half a cup of tender coconut pulp which was neither too tender nor too hard. So, pureed both jackfruit & tender coconut with little jaggery, mixed with flour to make the dough and baked it for 25 minutes. It was such a good textured and aromatic cupcake.

Jackfruit or Halasina hannu (in kannada), a nutritionally rich, seasonal & tropical fruit. It is high calorie fruit which is majorly supplied by the carbohydrates & sugar. It also contains some amount proteins & fat. It contains almost every vitamin & minerals, various antioxidants and dietary fiber. It makes a perfect food to overcome the situation of starvation & malnutrition. Hence the saying ‘Hasidavanige Halasu, Undavanige Maavu’ in kannada which means Jackfruit for one who is hungry & Mango for one whose stomach is full!

This fruit is consumed in various ways and in any form. Tender jackfruit to well ripe ones takes their place in culinary activities. Fruits can be eaten as it is or can be used in preparation of desserts like halwa, kheer, appa and breakfast kadubu (or kottige). Raw jackfruit can be used in making curries.

Note: It is suggested avoiding this fruit for diabetics or eat them monitoring glucose level!

Here is the recipe for the cupcake or muffins.

Preparation Time: 15 minutes (if flesh is ready for consumption)

Bake Time: 25 minutes

Serves: 6 medium muffins

Ingredients:

Jackfruit bulbs – 8-10 (cleaned & deseeded), ½ cup puree

Tender coconut pulp - ½ cup puree (optional), if not using it increase jackfruit puree to 1 cup

Fine semolina/ Chiroti rava – ½ cup

All-purpose flour/ Maida – ½ cup

Sugar/ Powdered jaggery – ¾ cup

Baking soda – ¼ tsp

Baking powder – ¼ tsp

Salt – ¼ tsp

Milk – ¼ cup

Ghee/ clarified butter – 2 tbsp

Chopped nuts (Almonds & cashwes) – 6-8 each

Method:

• Clean jackfruit bulb/ flesh, remove seeds and chop roughly.
• Puree jackfruit & tender coconut pulp in a mixer to get a coarse texture. Do not make it too smooth. You should have 1 cup of this puree, it can be only jackfruit or combination of both. Mix the sugar or jaggery, which you are using. Keep aside.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine rava (semolina), maida, salt, baking powder & baking soda.
• Add the fruit puree to the dry ingredients. Mix once with a spatula. A spatula is enough for all the mixing.
• Add milk, ghee to the same. Combine well to get a batter without any lumps. This cake mix consistency should be thick and not runny.
• Add in chopped nuts and mix thoroughly. Do not beat it fast. Set aside the batter for  2-3 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 180 deg Celsius.
• Fill the muffin liner/ form (3/4^th) with the batter.
• Bake for 20 - 25 minutes. Mine took 25 minutes. 

Once done, remove from the oven. Allow cooling. The delicious muffins are ready to serve when warm.