This is the first time I have eaten jackfruit. I’ve had a tin at the back of my cupboard for a while and fancied creating a vegan alternative to pulled pork – and last night I finally got around to it. I wanted to make a completely vegan recipe so had to improvise with the barbecue ingredients I had in stock (leaving out the Worcester sauce which has anchovies in it – I must get around to buying a vegan version sometime). So I used soy sauce instead.

Once cooked you can easily fork the jackfruit into meat-like strands, exactly like pulled pork. The jackfruit is very sweet though, too sweet for my taste really to have too often, although with the barbecue sauce it works really well.

I’m not sure about the nutritional benefits of jackfruit – it’s heavy in carbs/sugars (and a quick Google search suggests there are health warnings for diabetics). But it’s hugely versatile – there are tons of jackfruit recipes out there – such as in nachos/tacos, as a filler for potato skins, even as a pot pie. I will definitely try jackfruit again. Let me know if you have a jackfruit recipe and I’ll link to it from this blog.

Ingredients

• 1 x 400g tin of jackfruit, drained
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tablespoon tomato purée
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 280 mls vegetable stock
• Black pepper
• oil to cook

Barbecue sauce

• 2 tablespoons of tomato ketchup
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• Half teaspoon cayenne pepper

Method

1. Heat the oil in a saucepan and cook the onion gently until soft, add the garlic and cook for another 2 or 3 minutes.
2. Add the cumin, tomato purée and jackfruit, stirring well until the jackfruit is well coated. Season with pepper (you don’t need salt as the soy sauce is salty enough).
3. Add the stock, bring to the boil and simmer.
4. Meanwhile make up the barbecue sauce by whisking all the sauce ingredients together. Add to the saucepan and simmer for about 20 minutes.

Serve like pulled pork in a brioche bun or pitta bread, with salad and pickles or do what I did (I had no bread) on a selection of vegetables I had cooked in the oven as a tray bake (onions, peppers, potato wedges), on a bed of rocket.

It’s not the most photogenic of suppers but it was cheap, filling and tasty. There is plenty here for two or three people. I still have leftovers.

Do you have a cheap, fresh and easy recipe I can try? Let me know and I’ll feature it on the site and link back to you.

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