Halasina Happala

What is halasina happala?

Halasina happala is a thin, crisp papad made from the bulbs of a full grown but unripe jackfruit. Halasu (ಹಲಸು) is jackfruit in Kannada and happala is papad, so the name simply means jackfruit papad. The cooked bulbs are ground into a smooth dough with salt, chilli and cumin or sesame, pressed into thin rounds and dried in the sun until they snap.

Once dried, halasina happala keeps for months. It is fried in hot oil or roasted over the embers of the hearth. Either way it puffs up into a light, crunchy disc with a gentle jackfruit taste. In Malenadu it is eaten with rice and saaru, as a tea time snack or simply on its own on a rainy evening.

Most families eat jackfruit in many ways through the summer. The ripe fruit goes into sweet dishes such as halasina kadubu, the raw fruit becomes palya and the extra raw fruit becomes happala. Our page on Malenadu fruits covers the jackfruit itself and the other fruits of the hills.

Jackfruit happala, papad, chips or sandige?

These words get mixed up, so here is how Malenadu homes use them.

Name	What it is
Halasina happala	cooked raw jackfruit dough, pressed thin and sun dried
Jackfruit chips	slices of raw jackfruit bulbs fried crisp straight away
Hannina happala	papad made from ripe or half ripe jackfruit, slightly sweet
Sandige	small sun dried fritters, often of rice or sago, fried like papad
Akki happala	rice papad, made the same way with rice dough

So jackfruit happala and jackfruit papad are the same thing. A raw jackfruit papad is savoury and pale, while a ripe fruit papad is darker and sweeter.

When is halasina happala made in Malenadu?

Halasina happala is made in the hot, dry months before the monsoon, when the jackfruit trees around the house are full. The sun is strong and steady then, which is what the papads need to dry quickly and evenly.

A Deccan Herald report on jackfruit papad from the Sirsi area describes how villages around Sirsi in Uttara Kannada have long made it at home during the summer jackfruit season. The same is true across the Malenadu taluks of Shivamogga, Chikkamagaluru and the ghats. You can see where these sit on our page of Malenadu districts and taluks.

The timing also follows the weather. Once the rains begin, nothing dries outside, so every family tries to finish its happala before the first heavy showers. Read about how sharply the seasons change in the hills on our Malenadu monsoon page.

A family and neighbourhood work day

Making halasina happala is rarely a one person job. One jackfruit gives a lot of bulbs and the dough must be pressed while it is still soft, so relatives and neighbours often gather for a day. Some clean the fruit, some grind, some press and the children carry the papads out to the sun.

Many families take turns, working at one house one week and another the next. It is hard work, but it is also a day of talk, tea and snacks. By evening the yard or the roof is covered in rows of pale happala.

Which jackfruit is used for jackfruit papad?

Jackfruit papad is made from a fruit that is fully grown but still raw, with firm, pale bulbs that are not yet sweet. A fruit picked too young gives a thin, watery dough. A fruit that has started to ripen makes the papad sweet, dark and soft.

The owner of the tree usually knows when a fruit is ready, from its size and the look of its skin. If you buy one, ask the seller for a mature raw fruit for happala, not a tender one for palya. Any jackfruit can be used. Many families use trees whose ripe fruit is not so prized for eating.

Raw jackfruit has a sticky white latex. Rub coconut oil on your hands, the knife and the cutting board before you start. Spread newspaper on the floor too. The latex cleans off easily with oil but not with water.

What goes into halasina happala?

Halasina happala needs very few ingredients, because the jackfruit itself makes the dough. Here is what each one does.

Ingredient	What it does
Raw jackfruit bulbs	the body of the papad, cooked soft and ground
Salt	taste and better keeping
Red chilli or green chilli	heat; some homes use bird eye chilli
Cumin seeds	flavour, the most common choice
White sesame seeds	crunch and a nutty taste, in some homes
Hing (asafoetida)	a pinch for aroma
Coconut oil	greasing hands and sheets, then frying

Some families also add a little crushed pepper. Keep the spices simple, because the plain jackfruit taste is what makes halasina happala special.

Halasina happala recipe: how to make jackfruit papad at home

This halasina happala recipe shows how to make jackfruit papad at home with about 1 kg of cleaned raw jackfruit bulbs, enough for roughly 40 medium papads. The cooking and pressing take an afternoon and the drying takes two or three sunny days. Start early in the day so the first papads go out in strong sun.

A good batch of halasina happala looks pale cream to light yellow with small flecks of chilli and cumin. Each papad should be thin enough to almost see light through. If they crack while pressing, the dough is too dry; if they stick to the sheet, it needs a little more oil.

How do you dry and store halasina happala?

Dry halasina happala in strong, steady sun for two to three days until they snap cleanly, then store them in an airtight tin away from any damp. Drying properly is the most important step, because a papad that is still soft inside will turn mouldy in the monsoon.

• Turn them daily. The side touching the mat dries slowest. Flip each papad once a day.
• Bring them in at night. Dew makes them soft again, so stack them indoors each evening and spread them out next morning.
• Watch the sky. If clouds come in, pick them up. A papad that gets rained on usually has to be thrown away.
• Test before storing. Bend one. It should snap, not bend. If it bends, give the batch another day.

Store halasina happala in dry steel or glass tins with tight lids. Many Malenadu homes keep the tins in the attic or near the kitchen, where the warmth of the hearth keeps them crisp. Before the rains, some families put them out in the sun for one more day so they go into the monsoon bone dry.

How do you cook halasina happala?

There are two ways to cook halasina happala: fry it in hot oil or roast it over a flame or embers. Both take less than a minute.

Frying

Heat coconut oil in a kadai until a small piece of happala dropped in rises at once. Slide in one papad at a time. It will puff and spread in a few seconds. Press it gently with a slotted spoon, turn once and lift it out before it browns. Drain on paper and eat warm.

Roasting on embers or a flame

In old Malenadu kitchens, happala were roasted over the glowing embers of the wood stove after cooking. Hold the papad with tongs a few inches above the embers or a low gas flame and keep turning it. It bubbles and turns pale gold. A roasted halasina happala is drier and smokier than a fried one and uses no oil.

Do not try to roast a thick or damp papad. It will burn outside and stay chewy inside.

Malenadu happala and how they vary

Malenadu happala change from house to house, mainly in the spices. These are the versions you are most likely to meet.

• Cumin and chilli: the most common halasina happala, with a mild heat.
• Sesame: white sesame mixed into the dough for crunch.
• Pepper: a teaspoon of crushed pepper in place of some chilli, for a warmer taste.
• Green chilli: fresh green chillies ground in, giving a paler papad with a fresh heat.
• Bird eye chilli: one or two tiny gandhari menasu make the papad noticeably hot.
• Ripe fruit papad: in Kodagu and some other homes, half ripe bulbs are used for a darker, slightly sweet papad.

For a hot batch, grind one or two bird eye chillies into the dough in place of half the chilli powder. Taste the raw dough carefully, because the heat grows as the papad fries.

Rice papad (akki happala) is made the same way with cooked rice flour dough. Many homes make both in the same summer.

What to eat with halasina happala

Halasina happala is eaten with rice and a thin saaru, as a snack with tea or crushed over curd rice. On a rainy day it is the crunch that makes a simple meal feel complete.

• Kokum saaru and rice: a hot, sour kokum saaru with rice and a fried happala is a classic Malenadu lunch.
• Tambuli: a cool menthya tambuli and rice with a happala on the side.
• Monsoon curries: a roasted happala goes well with a peppery anabe saaru in the mushroom season.
• Curd rice: crush a happala over curd rice at the end of the meal.
• Tea time: a stack of fried happala with hot tea when it is pouring outside.

For the kokum saaru, keep a jar of kokum rind in the kitchen. Six to eight soaked pieces make a pot for four.

When guests come in the monsoon, Malenadu families often fry a plate of happala with tea. It is a way of sharing the summer’s work.

Common halasina happala mistakes and how to fix them

Most problems with halasina happala come from the wrong fruit, a wet dough or rushed drying. This table shows what went wrong and how to fix it.

Problem	Likely cause	Fix
Sweet, dark papad	fruit had started to ripen	use a firm, raw fruit
Papad cracks while pressing	dough too dry or cold	press while warm, oil the sheets
Papad sticks to the sheet	too little oil	grease both sheets lightly
Does not puff when fried	papad too thick or oil not hot	press thinner, heat the oil more
Mould in the tin	not fully dried	dry until it snaps, store airtight
Bitter or hard bits	seed skins left in	remove every seed skin before cooking

Grind the dough while it is still a little warm. Cold jackfruit dough is stiff and hard to press thin. If you make a big batch, keep the waiting dough covered with a damp cloth.

Where to go next after halasina happala

Once you have a tin of halasina happala, you have the start of many Malenadu monsoon meals. For the sweet side of the jackfruit, try halasina kadubu. See what else is in season on our Malenadu crop calendar. Our Malenadu food guide brings all the hill recipes together.

If you are in Bengaluru in early summer, Karnataka Tourism lists a mango and jackfruit mela at Lalbagh, where papads are among the fruit products on sale. It is a good place to see how many kinds of jackfruit the state grows.

Frequently asked questions about halasina happala