Preparation Time: 10 minutes              Servings: 2
Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Jackfruit. I hadn’t even heard of Jackfruit until last year and it turns out, the unripe version of this fruit makes an amazing meat alternative. You can simply use tinned green jackfruit to create these simple, mouth wateringly delicious BBQ pulled jackfruit pitas. Jackfruit is a game changer, similar to the carrot bacon recipe we shared a few weeks ago.

Ingredients

BBQ Jackfruit
1 tin green/ young jackfruit (do not buy the ripe jackfruit that is often stored in syrup and is way too sweet for us to use for this, remember we want the unripe jackfruit for the mock meat recipes)
3 tbsp. barbeque seasoning
½ cup barbeque sauce
water (enough to thin the sauce)

Sautéed Veg
Handful mushrooms, diced
½ onion, diced
½ yellow pepper, diced
1 clove garlic

Added “Crunch”
½ cup fresh cabbage, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
2 tbsp. vegan mayo (optional) OR 1 mashed avocado (optional)

Serve with pita bread.

Method

• Open the tin of jackfruit and drain, wash and dry the jackfruit pieces. You will see the jackfruit has a ‘core’ (the dense part of the fruit) and the BBQ pulled pork style meal will be best achieved if you cut off the core parts so you are just left with the bits that more easily break apart.
• Mix the jackfruit with the dried barbeque seasoning and heat in a pan over a medium heat with 1 tbsp vegetable oil.
• Fry the mixture for a few minutes until the jackfruit starts to brown.
• Add the barbeque sauce and a small amount of water to thin the mixture slightly so it covers all the jackfruit.
• Stir the mix and reduce the heat to low, put the lid on and simmer the mixture for 20 minutes. You should notice when you stir it that the jackfruit is breaking apart into strings and the sauce is thickening up.
• While that cooks, stir fry the mixed vegetables over a medium-high heat with a large pinch of salt and pepper.
• Chop up the cabbage and carrot very finely and mix them together in a small bowl. As an extra treat: if you have vegan mayonnaise you can mix 2 tablespoons of it with this raw crunchy mix to make more of a coleslaw or if it’s avocado season add in some avo! YUM!
• After 20 minutes, the jackfruit mix should be thick and delicious, crank up the heat and stir regularly while it gets nice and hot ready to serve.
• After 2 minutes, turn off the heat and serve your Jackfruit hot. Enjoy!

These BBQ Pulled Jackfruit pitas are amazing, they seem like actual pulled pork in taste and texture. Honestly, if you want to prove to your cynical meat-eating friends how great, varied and delicious a vegan lifestyle is, treat them to these pitas!