In this post, I provide detail instructions with photos and a video about how to peel the skin, remove the core and cut a breadfruit or neer phanas for various Indian recipes. A breadfruit or nirpanas is cut in different ways depending on the dish you want to prepare with it. So depending on the recipe, we either slice a breadfruit or dice it into thin pieces.
In India, breadfruits are found in the coastal areas of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala. A breadfruit is known by different names throughout India. In Goa, the Konkani name for breadfruit is ‘nirpanas’. In Marathi, it is referred to as ‘neer phanas’ or ‘neer fanas’. It is also called as ‘jeev kadgi’ or ‘kadachakka’ or ‘jeegujje’ in some other parts of India. It is spherical in shape like a ball and is of the size of a coconut. The outer surface is thick and light green in colour with flat blunt spikes. The inner portion is creamish in colour.
How to choose a breadfruit for cooking?
A breadfruit or neer phanas needs to be perfectly ripe for it to be used in cooking. A ripe breadfruit is bigger in size and yellowish green or parrot green in colour. Also the flat blunt spikes are well spaced and spread out across the surface. An unripe breadfruit is small in size and has a darker green colour. Also the spikes on an unripe breadfruit are closely packed together.
How to cut a breadfruit?
A breadfruit is cut in different ways depending on what we want to cook from it. For shallow fry, fritters and pakoras, the breadfruit is cut into semicircular shaped slices. For curries and sabzis, it is diced very thinly. Irrespective of the style of cutting, the basic cleaning procedure remains the same. The thick outer green coloured skin needs to be peeled off and discarded. Also the hard inner core needs to be removed and thrown away. In the olden days in Goa, people used a cutting equipment called as ‘aadoli’ or ‘vhili’ to cut the breadfruit. This equipment is like a small stool to sit on with a big blade attached to one side. Nowadays most youngsters are more comfortable using a chopping board and knife than the traditional cutting tools.
If the breadfruits are not ripe, they have a lot of sticky latex inside. Hence it is advisable to grease your hands and the cutting knife with some oil. This helps to clean off the sticky latex easily. Also, the peeled and cut breadfruit pieces need to be soaked in water until use. If not, they will turn black if left out in the open just like a potato. A ripe breadfruit needs to be used within 2 – 3 days else it will get spoilt. Alternately, you can peel, core and cut breadfruit and soak it in water in an airtight container and refrigerate it for 3 – 5 days. In this way you can store the breadfruit for a longer period, and then remove and use it directly for cooking whenever needed.
Watch out for our upcoming Goan Konkani Nirpanas recipes!!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 Breadfruit
Instructions
- Cut off the stalk of the breadfruit.
- Cut the breadfruit into half.
- Cut each half portion again into halves to form quarters.
- Method 1 – Slicing breadfruit for shallow fry, fritters and pakoras: Place the breadfruit quarter pieces on a chopping board with the hard green outer skin on top. Slice the quarters into half inch thick semi-circular slices.
- Cut off the hard core from each breadfruit slice.
- Cut off the hard outer green skin from each breadfruit slice.
- The breadfruit slices are ready for use for shallow fry, fritters and pakoras. Dip them in water until use to avoid turning black.
- Method 2 – Chopping breadfruit for curries and sabjis : Dice the breadfruit quarters into halves and then again into halves and so on to form small pieces.
- Cut off the hard core from each piece.
- Cut off the hard green outer skin.
- Dice the breadfruit pieces into thin pieces.
- The breadfruit pieces are ready for use in curries and sabjis. Dip them in water until use to avoid turning black.
Tips & Tricks
- You can apply oil to your hands and the knife to prevent sticking due to the sticky substance called latex present in breadfruits.