Jackfruit comes from southern India and large swathes of south-east Asia. It is one of the biggest fruit, with specimens going up to 55kg! The young green fruit is somewhat reminiscent of pulled pork, and some say it has that flavour, but I don't get that.
One thing that you must do is press the jackfruit before use. When it comes out of the can it is quite wet and if you cook with it like this it doesn't always come out great. The easiest way to get a lot of the water out is to put it in a tea towel, tie it up and squeeze. I cheat though and put it in my tofu press!
I wondered how well it would do using the same method of boiling then frying as I have been doing recently with mushrooms and onions. This method will encourage the fruit to release additional water, and you also get some good caramelisation.
Ingredients:
150g white shimeji mushrooms, base cut off and separated into individual mushrooms
1 medium red onion, sliced
200ml water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 carrot, chopped into chunks
1 courgette, chopped into chunks
2 baby pak choi, cut into slices
200ml white wine
250ml veggie stock
1 tbsp cornflour
Start with the mushrooms, onion and jackfruit in a large non-stick pan and add the 200ml water and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Put onto a medium-high heat and bring to the boil. Put a lid on and set a timer for 10 minutes.
After the time, take off the lid and allow the rest of the water to boil off. Add a teaspoon of toasted sesame oil and a tablespoon or two of rapeseed or olive oil. Stir fry for another 10 minutes until the onion is caramelised and the mushroom and jackfruit are coloured nicely.
Throw in the rest of the veggies and the white wine. When the wine comes to the boil, pour in the stock, stir well and put a lid on. Get on with prepping an accompaniment, such as long grain rice.
After about 10 minutes, check that the carrot is cooked. Make a slurry by mixing the cornflour with a couple of tablespoons of cold water in a cup. Pour the slurry into the veggies and mix well. After a couple of minutes the sauce will start to thicken.
Serve with the accompaniment on warm plates with a sprinkle of ground black pepper.