Cooking Jackfruit : Jackfruit Recipes for Every Part
I love Jackfruit and grew up eating Sri Lankan Jackfruit curry and ripe, fleshy Jackfruit as fruit so during one of our recent strolls through Toronto’s Chinatown, I couldn’t help but buy a piece of Jackfruit. Now this piece was cut up and seemed easy to manage so my tip when buying Jackfruit for the first time is to buy a small piece! On my first time actually cooking jackfruit I made four Jackfruit dishes utilizing every part of the Jackfruit except for the outer skin. Apparently I could have pickled the outer layer so I just may try that next time!
What Does a Jackfruit Look Like?
Image : Melanie Lobo
I was surprised that many friends had never seen the whole fruit so I thought I’d show you what Jackfruit looks like. It’s spiky but unlike Durain, it doesn’t really stink (at least it doesn’t for me). Once cut, as you can see, the insides look pretty cool too. I like this unique fruit not just for its taste!
The inside of a Jackfruit have the sweet yellow bulbs the pokey green skin, yellow rind and tiny rags.
What Part of the Jackfruit do You Not Eat?
As someone who detests food waste, it brought me great joy to learn that every part of a Jackfruit can be consumed except for the green pokey skin.
Yes I ate the seeds, rags and the fleshy parts this time even though in the past, I’ve only ever had the main yellow fleshy fruit part. Now I did not play around with the outer skin (the green spiky part) or the rind but I read online that one can cut the rind up and pickle it! So technically all parts of a Jackfruit can be eaten except for the thin outer skin layer.
Does Cooked Jackfruit Taste Like Meat?
Poloos Curry – Unripe Jackfruit
To answer this question, I need to know which stage the fruit is in. I say this because unripe Jackfruit is very fibrous and has beef like textures and once made into a curry it can easily taste like meat (like the Polos curry picture above). For the most part the young Jackfruit is bland and absorbs flavours from spices but it has the stringy beef texture for the mouthfeel.
Ripe Jackfruit
Ripe Jackfruit is very different and is quite sweet. If you make the BBQ dish below, the Jackfruit can taste like pulled pork slathered in BBQ sauce – it’s sweet and not savoury. Even in the curry, it’s easy to tell that it’s a fibrous fruit and not chicken or beef.
What is the Best Way to Eat Jackfruit?
I like to eat it plain – it’s so good! That said, I enjoy making sandwiches and savoury curries too because they do taste good. It’s very different to the fresh fruit version but still tasty and very healthy. According to the Cleveland Clinic research shows that eating jackfruit can potentially reduce the risk of heart disease because it is rich in potassium, fiber and antioxidants which benefits heart health. Jackfruit is also high in Vitamin C which and antioxidants found in Jackfruit protects our cells from inflammation and oxidative stress, which can lead to chronic diseases like Type 2 diabetes.
Any way you want! Okay Okay… like I’ve said I mostly enjoy it in curries or sauteed as a filling for sandwiches. With Chris recently going Pescatarian, I’ve been attempting to bring more veggies into all of our diets which is why I was excited to experiment with the $7 piece of Jackfruit I found in Chinatown. I had to cook the piece the very same day because keep it it uncooked even one more day would have made overly ripe for the savoury dishes I was after.
Sri Lankan Kos Curry
I have eaten the fully savoury Sri Lankan Polos curry many time but this piece was already ripe so I made a sweeter curry, Kos curry or (ripe) Jackfruit Curry. It was surprisingly easy to cook but keep in mind that you do need Sri Lankan spices to make this one (namely the roasted curry powder).
Add 2 tablespoon of coconut oil to a pan on medium heat and let it warm up. Add a handful of curry leaves, 1 chopped onion, 3 sliced garlic cloves and 1 teaspoon of mustard seeds. When the seeds start popping, reduce the heat and sautéed it for about 3 minutes until everything turns brown. Scoop it up and store it on the side.
Add 1 tablespoon of coconut oil to the same pan and bring it up to medium heat levels. Then add 4 cloves of sliced garlic, 1 sliced onion, a handful of curry leaves, 1 cinnamon stick, 1 rampe (pandan leaf), 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon turmeric powder, 2 teaspoons Sri Lankan curry powder, 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds, 1 tablespoon of chili powder and sauté for 4 minutes.
Add about 20 pieces of young (but slightly ripe) Jackfruit (the yellow fleshy part) and stir everything for 2 minutes. Pour in 1.5 cans of coconut milk to the pan and stir. Let it simmer on low heat for 20 minutes. You want the Jackfruit to be a bit mushy in the creamy vegan curry. Bring in the mix you sautéed first and place it on the top of the curry. Serve with rice!
How To Eat Jackfruit Seeds
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You need to discard the fleshy brown and thick yellow layers on the seeds first and this can be a bit challenging. I used a pairing knife to peel the layers of the tough ones but for the most part, crushing the seeds in half with the flat side of a large knife did the trick. Rinse and pat the seeds dry. Add your favourite seasonings (taco spice mix, shawarma spice mix, everything bagel seasoning etc) and toss it in some oil. Place them in the airfyer at 400C for 10 minutes (or until your desired crunch levels). You can also place them in the oven for 50 minutes instead.
Jackfruit BBQ “Meat”
If you’re in a rush, this is an easy week day dinner. Heat your pan with a tablespoon of olive oil and sauté a sliced onion. Tear in 20 pieces of Jackfruit pods (fleshy yellow part) and add in 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon chili powder and 1 teaspoon garlic salt (you could just toss in BBQ seasoning instead).
You can always add in more spice in the end if you find things are too sweet. Mix it all in and let it cook for 5 minutes. Pour half a cup of water and as much BBQ sauce as you’d like and let the liquid evaporate over medium heat. This sandwich mix is ready to be layered in all sorts of stuff. I used slightly ripe Jackfruit and omitted the sugar but if you’re using unripe, green Jackfruit, you may want to add in a spoon of sugar.
Jackfruit Chips
Yes you can easily place the Jackfruit in the airfryer and make chips but in an effort of reducing food waste, I used the white “rags” to make my chips and they turned out great!
Similar to the seeds, I coated them in a spice mix and then tossed it around in some oil before placing it in the air fryer at 400C for 7 minutes. If you don’t want yours as crunchy you may want to reduce the time it “fries”.
And there you go! Here’s how I used the $7 piece of Jackfruit I purchased! I have a few more ideas brewing in my head so I may share more Jackfruit recipes with you in the very near future. Let me know how your family cooks Jackfruit!
