You’re right if you guessed my first “cooked” meal after my 31-day raw food challenge would be a taco of sorts. Not sure why I am having such a taco-craving lately. Maybe it’s my new addiction of staring at recipes in Pinterest.
I made spicy jackfruit tacos.
Superstore is the just about the only place I can buy jackfruit in brine in Red Deer. I grabbed six cans recently after waiting weeks for the shelves to be re-stocked. You never know when the shelves will be full again. A girl has to be prepared.
So what is jackfruit?
It’s a tropical fruit native to Southeast Asia and the national fruit in Bangladesh. (My Bangladeshi coworker introduced me to the fruit many moons ago in Ottawa.) Ranging from curries, sweet dishes to juice, jackfruit is the star of many culinary delights. It’s a challenging find in regular grocery stores. I would check out your local Chinese store or the international aisles at your supermarket. For my vegan-eating purposes, jackfruit in brine can be used as a meat substitute as it resemble chicken or pork when shredded. (Do not buy jackfruit in syrup.)
Jackfruit in Tacos
Open the can. Rinse the jackfruit and shred it into pieces using your hands. Most people recommend using a fork but I have not mastered this art. Rinse again. Put it in a bowl and mix up with your favorite flavors. I used chili power, cayenne power and garlic. I transferred the mix to the frying pan and cooked for a few minutes. Once it’s nice and hot it is ready to use as your taco filling.
Tacos are awesome because anything goes in the shell. (I use soft corn tacos because they are vegan.) Typically I just grab whatever I have on hand and put it in the taco. Everything seems to taste better in a taco. This time around I used basic mix of tomatoes, avocados, cilantro and my homemade spicy cashew sauce. I wanted to share a basic recipe with you so you could give it a try too.
- 1 cup of cashews
- 1 full red pepper
- 1 teaspoon of garlic
- 1 teaspoon of chili powder
- A pinch of dried jalapeños
- 1/2 cup of water or more
- 1/3 cup of lemon
- Soak cashews for at least four hours
- Drain and put in high speed blender
- Add chopped red pepper
- Add the remaining ingredients
- Turn on blender and mix well
- Add more water to reduce thickness of sauce
- Cool in fridge for about an hour
Try it and let me know what you think. Do you use jackfruit in your meals? I would love to hear how you use it in a dish.
I’ve never heard of jackfruit! I’ll have to look for it and sneak it in some meals here. Your tacos sound delish!
Wendy@Taking the Long Way Home recently posted…Open your Heart: Benefits of Backbends
Find it! So tasty!
Oh it’s so good! Find it
I can’t find jackfruit anywhere, including superstore in Red Deer. Have you found other locations in Red Deer to get it?
Superstore is hit and miss. But I noticed recently that Save On Foods is selling the flavoued jackfruit near the produce section. It’s pricey. I would just keep visiting Superstore. They seem to run out of stock often. I haven’t seen it in any other stores 🙁