New to jackfruit? Don't be afraid. I'll talk you through it.
We purchase ours in a can because we can't seem to find the whole fruit locally. So, that makes it even easier! I just drain the jackfruit and squeeze each piece. Now, you can simmer in water for an hour or put it in your slow cooker for an hour.
Don't skip this step:
After the hour, rinse well and squeeze each piece of jackfruit again. Try to remove all the water.
Another important step:
Put back on the stove or in your cooker and cook for another hour in new water.
At the end of this hour you'll want to drain, rinse and squeeze again. Now you're ready to cook with it!
For this recipe I pulled apart the jackfruit (now it looks like pulled pork) and added some water + taco spices + a little olive oil + cayenne. Cook it just like you would TVP or flesh. Really, that's all there is to it.
To make a casserole, just layer the jackfruit with water-stir-fried potatoes (or fried if you prefer. You just need your potatoes to be mostly cooked before you put them in your casserole), corn tortillas, rotel tomatoes + juice in a can, frozen corn. Layer all the ingredients and cover in enchilada or taco sauce if you want. Then bake at around 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes. Optional: add Daiya or a nutritional yeast mixture to the top for the last 10 minutes.
This meal is soooooo steamy and filling and absolutely amazing. Trust me. It's easy. It's amazing. It will please everyone -- guaranteed.
I told you these vegan recipes were easy.
where did you purchase your jackfruit? I too live in the Fort and want to try cooking with this.
ReplyDeleteWe get it at Bangkok Asian Market at the corner of Drake & Shields, behind the pet food store on the corner. Try to find it in cans with water instead of brine. Though if you must get it in salt, just rinse, rinse, rinse before you use it. There's also an awesome place just across Drake called India Rice N Spice. You should definitely check them out as well.
ReplyDeleteI've made a lot of recipes with jackfruit and never went through all of the extra cooking steps...just rinsed it really good and dried it. Is there a certain reason you cook it so many times???
ReplyDeleteI used to only find jackfruit canned in brine... and it's far too salty just to add it straight to a dish (at least we think so.) Now we can find it fresh & canned in water -- which has been great b/c you just skip the rinsing. As for the extra cooking steps... the flesh of jackfruit is pretty soft & moist (and bland) so cooking in a bit of oil w/ lots of spices like you would TVP or anything else you're using just dries it out a little, giving it flavor & more of a bite. I suppose it's an optional step but your casserole may become a bland, gooey, wet mass if you don't precook & season it a bit. It's all up to personal preference, I guess!
DeleteThank you!! I'll follow your steps! :-)
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