A veggie treat with a bit of heat! Jackfruit has become quite the in-vogue food at the moment, with its ‘pulled’ quality being a great substitute for meat. It is perfectly at home taking the place of beef in a lovely chilli-no-carne, although this dish aims for a generally lighter, zingier tone than its heavier, meatier cousin.
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Loading...Ingredients
- 1 medium red onion
- 1 or two small red chilli peppers, depending on how hot you want the final dish to be
- half teaspoon of chipotle flakes or powder
- half teaspoon of ancho chilli powder
- half teaspoon of guajillo chilli powder (see notes)
- half teaspoon of crushed cumin seeds or cumin powder
- half teaspoon of dried oregano (Mexican oregano is better but the normal variety works fine)
- half teaspoon of salt
- 1 tin chopped tomatoes
- 1 tin of cooked jackfruit (you can see this more and more in supermarkets or available online)
- 1 tin of mixed beans (using the traditional red kidney beans is more than adequate)
- Handful of spinach, roughly chopped.
- Fresh coriander and spring onions to serve
- 2 large cloves garlic, sliced.
- Salt and pepper
- 1 lime
Instructions
Mix the dry spices and salt together into a blend.
Add oil to a medium hot pan and fry the chopped red onion for around 3-5 minutes.
Add the garlic and the chopped red chilli peppers and fry for 1 minute
Add the dry spices and cook for a further minute.
Next add the tin of tomatoes, rinsing out the tin with a little water and adding that - waste not, want not.
Add the drained jackfruit and season with salt and pepper.
Allow to simmer over a low heat for around 30-40 minutes.
Allow to cool for a few minutes before 'pulling' apart the jackfruit with two forks.
Add the drained and rinsed beans and cook for a further 10 minutes, adding water if it looks too dry.
Add a handful of chopped coriander and stir in the chopped spinach for the last minute or two of cooking.
Season to taste with salt, pepper and a squeeze of lime juice.
Serve with some plain white rice, some guacamole and some buttered corn, or even a few tortilla chips. A blob of soured cream or plain yoghurt will douse the heat if you overdid the chilli.
Notes
If you don't have different varieties of chilli powder, just using plain chilli powder will do, or blend whatever you have, eg cayenne, paprika. A blend of different chilli powders gives a more interesting and richer flavour, but is not essential. If you can get some smoked chilli, eg chipotle or smoked paprika, don't hesitate to put it in, the smokey flavour is what we're looking for.
