Trinidadian Style Coconut Jackfruit Curry

Disclosure: I was compensated by Grace Foods Canada for this post but all opinions expressed are my own.

These days a lot of people are looking for delicious meat alternatives, myself included, and one of the most unique options out there is jackfruit. I’ve seen it grow in popularity over the past couple of years and there are more and more recipes coming out everyday.

I originally thought that Jamaica was the only island in the Caribbean that grew jackfruit, but I recently found out its also grown in Trinidad. Since it’s in both countries I decided to combine a Jamaican product with Trinidadian flavours and techniques to make my version of a Coconut Jackfruit Curry. Keep reading to see how it turned out!

What Is Jackfruit?

Some of you may be wondering what the heck is a jackfruit. It’s definitely one of the most unique fruits you’ll ever encounter. The first thing to know is that you should NEVER sit under a jackfruit tree since they can grow to over 75lbs each! It’s also one of the most sustainable crops out there and almost the entire fruit, including the seeds, is edible. When ripe the flesh is a beautiful yellow colour and it gives off aromas of sweet mangoes and pineapple. The young, or green, jackfruit is usually found canned in brine or water. It’s rich in vitamin A, vitamin C, magnesium, vitamin B6, fiber and is relatively low in fat.

Grace Young Green Jackfruit

Adding Flavour To Jackfruit.

The young jackfruit doesn’t really have much of its own taste but the great thing about it is that it’s a flavour sponge, and it’ll soak up the flavours of whatever it’s cooked in. When cooked the texture closely resembles pulled pork which is why it’s a popular choice in making vegan tacos or sliders.

I recently got the opportunity to try Grace Foods Young Green Jackfruit so I decided to use the same technique I use for my curried chicken. I combined it with a Trinidadian Madras curry powder, some whole spices, and Grace Foods Organic Coconut Milk to make a rich curried jackfruit dish. Not only was it delicious, it was totally vegan. Since I was using the jackfruit as a meat substitute I treated it like chicken and marinated it for a couple of hours in my Trinidadian green seasoning to pump more flavours into the final dish.

Some of the flavourings used in this jackfruit dish.

My kids are now adults and I’m always trying to get them into the kitchen to cook or hang out with the old man. They love Trinidadian food (as they should!) because of all variety of dishes and spices we use, and I enjoy  sharing my recipes and techniques with them. I’ve taught them how to cook sugar in oil to make the base for stewed meats, how to make Trinidadian green seasoning (a marinade we use in many dishes), and, of course, how to make doubles.  So naturally I had them help put this dish together.

How to make green seasoning.

Each Caribbean island has their own version of green seasoning. It’s a blend of fresh herbs and is an essential ingredient in our marinades which is why I chose to use it in this jackfruit dish. There really isn’t a recipe for this, just an ingredient list. I usually use whatever is on hand and measurements are “a piece of this”, or a “handful of that”. I try to always use chadon beni (culantro), scallion or green onion, garlic, scotch bonnet peppers, onion, fresh thyme, Spanish thyme and ginger. If I don’t have chadon beni I use cilantro instead.

Prepping the ingredients for my green seasoning.

Coconut Jackfruit Curry.

This curried jackfruit dish is made in a series of steps each building layers of rich flavours on top of each other. The result is a complex tasting dish that easily makes you forget that there’s no meat on the plate.

Snacking while cooking jackfruit.

Grace Foods Young Green Jackfruit is canned in brine so the first thing that should be done is to get the fruit out of the can and the brine rinsed off. After rinsing, I had my son break apart the bigger chunks and squeeze as much water out as possible. He then added some green seasoning and let it sit for a couple of hours. In the meantime I put the kids to work chopping and mixing while I supervised and snacked. Hey, supervising is hard work!!

Whole spices – Fenugreek, coriander, cumin, mustard seeds and cloves

Getting the curry ready is pretty easy. Start off by sauteeing some onion and garlic in canola oil on low heat, then add the curry and whole spices. If you want it spicy you can add some scotch bonnet pepper at this stage too. Cook for a few minutes then add about a quarter cup of water, turn up the heat and cook down to make a sort of slurry.

Sauteeing onions and garlic with curry

The jackfruit is then added to the pot and stirred to properly mix in with the curry. It’s quite edible right out of the can so we’re just building flavours at this point.

Building flavours with the Grace Foods Organic Coconut Milk

Aftermixing it in the curry we added some Grace Foods Organic Coconut Milk and water and just cooked it down to the consistency that we wanted. One thing to keep in mind is that as this cools it will thicken so you want a fair bit of sauce when you turn off the heat.

Coconut curry jackfruit with rice

That’s it! Very simple but packed with flavour thanks to the curry powder and green seasoning. I was initially going to serve this curried jackfruit with roti but we decided to use basmati rice instead.

Have you ever had jackfruit? If so please leave me a comment below and let me know what you thought of it.

Trini Style Coconut Jackfruit Curry

June 7, 2020

by Davindra Ramnarine

Category Food Recipes Uncategorized

Jackfruit cooked in a flavourful coconut milk based curry that's delicious when eaten with rice or roti. 

Ingredients

Green seasoning

• 5 cloves garlic
• 8 leaves culantro, or, 1/2 bunch cilantro
• 4 green onions
• 1/2 medium onion
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 scotch bonnet pepper
• 1 tbs fresh thyme
• 1 inch piece of ginger
• water

Jackfruit Curry

• 2 cans Grace Young Green Jackfruit
• 1 cup Grace Organic Coconut Milk
• 3 tbs green seasoning
• 2 tbs canola oil
• 1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
• 2 gloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 tbs Madras curry powder
• 1/8 tsp each cumin seed, whole coriander, fenugreek, mustard seed
• 2 cloves
• 1/4 cup and 1 cup water (more if needed)
• 1/2 tsp salt. More if needed
• 1/2 scotch bonnet pepper (optional)

Instructions

Green Seasoning

1. Add all ingredients to blender or food processor and puree. Add water as needed.

Jackfruit Curry

1. Add green seasoning to rinsed jackfruit, mix well and let sit for a couple of hours.
2. Heat oil over medium-low heat then add onion and garlic and gently cook till onion is translucent. Do not let garlic brown.
3. Add curry and whole spices to pot and mix into oil. Cook for at least 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
4. Add 1/4 cup water and raise heat while continuously stirring. Cook until it forms a slurry.
5. Add jackfruit to pot and mix well to coat the jackfruit with the curry. You can add the scotch bonnet pepper here if you want more heat.
6. Add salt, water and coconut milk and stir. Bring to a boil then lower heat.
7. Cook until most of the liquid has been absorbed or until it has reached the consistency you prefer. This is eaten with rice and will thicken as it cools so you don't want it too dry.

Tags

jackfruit,

Jamaican,

Jamaican food,

trini food,

vegan,

vegetarian

© 2024 Goat Roti Chronicles