Puttur woman set to share 101 lockdown jackfruit recipes; e-book launch tomorrow

Mangaluru: Sowkhya Mohan Talakalukoppa (in pic), a homemaker in Puttur, who would try out a variety of recipes during the Covid-19 lockdown, especially with jackfruit, is all set to release a unique Kannada e-book with 101 recipes related to jackfruit. The free e-book ‘Halasu- 101 Paaka Vidhana’ will be released online on November 6.
Sowkhya told TOI: “My experiments with jackfruit began during the Covid lockdown. Cooking is my passion and I keep trying new recipes and even sending them to magazines. However, it was Shree Padre, editor, ‘Adike Patrike’, a Kannada agricultural magazine as well as global ambassador for jackfruits, who encouraged me to try out more jackfruit recipes. A milkshake prepared from jackseed was a big hit and I went on trying something new and documenting the same.
“I have a bank of more than 120 jackfruit recipes, including raw jackfruit, ripe pulp and seeds - of which the best 101 have been selected for the ebook. These recipes that I used to upload on Facebook regularly also caught the attention of Naveen GV of nGV Natural Industry Private Limited, a ready-to-cook start-up in Bengaluru, who suggested that we bring out a e-book.,” she said.
Sowkhya uses only simple and locally available ingredients. Some of the recipes in the book include raw jack shavige, jackfruit phirni, jackseed halwa, jackfruit dhokla and so on. All the recipes have been prepared and tasted at home and are also healthy, she said.
Naveen GV of nGV Natural Industry, who has also designed the book, said the flip book will also have light music in the background to give a better feeling to the reader. “We have tried to give a new experience to Kannada readers and have drawn inspiration from the coffee table books. This is an attempt to reach out to the younger generation and to increase awareness on jackfruit. The recipes are crisp and we hope that people will try at least one jackfruit recipe once a week,” he said.
Meanwhile, Sowkhya has begun the translation of e-book recipes to English. Along with Pavithra Naveen from Bengaluru, she is also working on bringing out a Kannada recipe e-book on bamboo shoots.