Every week we pull together some great Canadian recipes from Canadian food bloggers around the web featuring one main ingredient or dish. This week it's one of our more unusual ingredient roundups: the jackfruit! We've got 7 jackfruit recipes for you to experiment with.
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Jackfruit has been popping up more and more in recipes lately so we thought it was time to do a roundup of jackfruit recipes to give you some ideas on how you can use this unique tropical fruit in your cooking. It's proving to be especially popular in vegan dishes, as you'll soon see, given how remarkably similar its texture is to pulled pork!.
What is Jackfruit?
Ok, so what the heck is jackfruit you ask? It's the fruit of the jackfruit tree (or jack tree) and while this tropical tree is in the same species as the fig and mulberry trees, they don't bear any tiny fruit. A single jack fruit can be anywhere from 30cms to a metre in length and can weigh up to 25kg! It's actually the largest tree fruit you can find.
The fruit can be eaten both ripe and unripe. Different recipes will call for one or the other. Usually the unripe is used in curries and other more savoury dishes while the ripe is used in desserts. You can buy it canned, shredded, frozen and, sometimes, if you're lucky, fresh.
If you get your hands on an actual jackfruit and decided to cut it open and get the fruit out yourself, note that it is very, very, very sticky and can make a bit of a mess. You might want to lay down some newspaper first and perhaps wear gloves. You'll also need some oil to clean up your knife later. Here's a video from FBC Member Pailin's Kitchen on How To Open a Jackfruit if you'd like to see how it's done!
Using Jackfruit as a Meat Substitute
One of the reasons we're seeing jackfruit become more mainstream (besides the fact that it tastes so good) is that it's becoming an increasingly popular substitute for meat in vegan and vegetarian cuisine. This is because of it's unique texture that easily mimics pulled pork! That makes for a great topping for vegan sliders, vegan tacos, vegan nachos... you get the idea.
However.... jackfruit does not have a comparable nutrition profile to meat. It is a great source of fibre, potassium and magnesium but it contains very little protein. So if you do substitute it for your pulled pork or other meat ingredient, make sure you're getting your protein in other areas of your meal!
If you're looking to experiment with this fruit we've got lots of great jackfruit ideas here - everything from sushi to kebabs, curry to soup and, of course, pulled pork!
If you're trying to find jackfruit and haven't had any luck in your supermarket, check out your local Asian grocery store or you can order it on-line from Amazon - they have both the young jackfruit in brine and the sweet jackfruit in juice available (along with other options)
We hope you have fun trying out this unique fruit in your cooking. If you've got a great way that you use jackfruit, let us know in the comments!
1. Jackfruit Pulled Pork (Vegetarian)
It's remarkable how closely Jackfruit mimics pulled pork. Jackfruit "pulled pork" is, for many, the dish that introduces them to this fruit in North America. And Lord Byron's Kitchen has worked out all the kinks so you have a perfect recipe to get started with. (PS... vegetarian pulled pork is waaaaay faster to prepare than the real pulled pork!)
2. Vegan Sheet Pan Meal: Tandoori Tofu Jackfruit Kebabs
by Vegan Lovlie
We're all about one pan dinners around here so Vegan Lovelie's One Pan Tandoori Jackfruit & Tofu Kebabs caught our eye immediately. The tofu and jackfruit sit in a tandoori marinade soaking up all that flavour goodness before being cooked.
3. Spicy Jackfruit Suhi (Vegan & GF)
Jackfruit sushi was a new one for us but why not? Sometimes vegan sushi options aren't that varied but The Vegan Harvest has come up with this Spicy Jackfruit Sushi Roll that has changed that! It's also gluten-free.
4. Instant Pot Jackfruit Pozole (Vegetarian)
The Yum Yum Factor was not only one of the first blogs we saw using the Instant Pot when it first came out, it was also one of the first we had seen cooking with jackfruit. So we had to include her Instant Pot Jackfruit Pozole in this recipe collection. It's hearty and delicious!
5. Pulled Jackfruit Nachos with Homemade BBQ Sauce
If you want a really hearty version of nachos that's plant based then jackfruit is a perfect topping to replace ground beef, pulled pork or shredded chicken. This Healthy Kitchen put together this big platter of Pulled Jackfruit Nachos made with a homemade BBQ sauce that's finger lickin' delicious!
6. Tender Green Jackfruit Curry
Another common way to use jackfruit is in curry, where it's often the unripened fruit that's used. TorviewToronto shares this recipe for Tender Green Jackfruit Curry to spice up your mealtime!
7. Vegan Philly Cheesesteak Sliders
by Jo and Sue
These deliciously messy looking Jackfruit Philly Cheesesteak Sliders from Jo & Sue are a perfect way to ease your family into a meatless Monday meal. They're so tasty and family friendly - everyone will love them! They're also great for summer entertaining - all your guests will be able to give them a try!
A big thank you to all our FBC Members who participated in this weekend's Jackfruit Recipe roundup. If you're an FBC Member and would like to submit to future weekend link roundups, make sure you're signed up to receive your members-only newsletter where we list all the weekly roundups for the current month (don't receive your monthly member newsletter? Log in to your account and check off the box to receive our member updates!)
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MORE READING
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- The FBC Guide On How To Make Anything Vegan
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