Attacking the jackfruit

I’ve had a few vac packs of jackfruit at the back of the food press since I attempted Veganuary earlier in the year . I managed three weeks before throwing in the towel because I was really craving a piece of salmon (it was amazing). Jackfruit is an exotic fruit native to India which is now increasingly used as a plant based meat substitute due to its stringy texture which resembles meat fibres.  I found this brand in Holland and Barrett on sale for about a euro but at full price it retails at almost four euro a packet.

This wasn’t my first attempt at eating vegan for a period of time.  I managed to complete six weeks a couple of years ago when I experimented lots with vegan cheese making and all sorts of fun stuff. I was much lazier this time, relying too much on convenience foods and bread and just never got around to playing with the jackfruit.

Jackfruit is most commonly turned into big fat fake pulled pork sandwiches in the vegan world but I decided not to bother with those as I'm just not a big fan of sugary BBQ sauce at the best of times.

Instead, I chose to make some peanut and miso jackfruit noodles which I figured would have enough punch to compensate for what I expected to be a pretty bland ingredient. 

I have to say the jackfruit looked did look quite a bit like pork when opened. I tasted a piece raw and it was pretty tasteless with only a faint briny note detectable.   It contained some weird knobbly bits which freaked me out a bit as they really did look like some of the less appetising parts of  real pulled pork.  

I broke it up a bit with a spatula before browning it in some oil which made it look even more meaty. You might believe this was pork when you looked at it but one taste would tell you that were very wrong.

I did enjoy this stir fry but the jackfruit just brought nothing to the party. The famed meaty texture wasn't even discernible amongst the other ingredients. I'll probably throw the two packets I have left into something or other but probably wouldn't bother buying it again. 

Jackfruit noodles with peanut miso sauce 

Peanut miso sauce

- 1 tbs miso paste

- 2 tbs peanut butter

- 1 tbs soy sauce

- 2 cloves garlic

- 1 tsp ginger paste

- 2 tbs rice vinegar

- 2 tbs sweet chilli sauce

- splash water

Stir fry

- 1 packet jackfruit, drained

- 1 cup mixed chopped peppers (I used frozen)

- 2 spring onions, chopped

- chilli flakes to taste

- medium egg noodles

1) blend all sauce ingredients together to a smooth paste. Set aside.

2) Season jackfruit and fry in oil for 3-4 minutes until browned

3) add peppers and fry until softened.

4) add sauce (you may not need it all)

5) Finish with chopped spring onions and chilli flakes.