Jackfruit Carnitas
What I love most about this dish is how pantry heavy it is. Besides the avocado, cilantro, and lime, most ingredients will often be kept on hand. Plus, it's one of those set it and forget it meals that takes 40 minutes to cook with only ten minutes of actual work. If you don't have time to make pickles (or they're not your thing), sautéing up some frozen (or fresh) corn, zucchini, and garlic with a little salt makes for a delicious veggie component.
Servings: 4
Equipment
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Heavy bottom frying pan
- Wooden spoon
Ingredients
- 1 can jackfruit in water not in syrup, 398 ml
- 4 teaspoons coconut oil
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ medium onion chopped finely
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- Juice of ½ an orange
- 1 cup beer or veggie broth
- 1-2 tablespoons minced chipotle in adobo use 1 tbsp. which will be 1 pepper and sauce for mild-medium, and 2 tablespoon or 2 peppers and sauce for hot
- ¼ cup diced tomatoes
- 2 teaspoons honey or maple syrup
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt or to taste
To Serve
- Quick pickled carrots cauliflower, cabbage, and shallots (optional but delicious)
- Avocado
- Warm corn tortillas
- Cilantro
- Lime
Instructions
- Begin by rinsing the jackfruit well. Next, shred it until it looks like pulled meat. You can remove the seeds of you like (I know a lot or people don't like their texture), but I don't find them to be problematic.
- Next, combine the oregano, cinnamon, paprika, cumin, coriander, and garlic powder in a bowl along with the shredded jackfruit.
- Toss to coat everything in the spice mixture.
- Heat a medium heavy bottom frying pan to medium low.
- Add 2 teaspoons of coconut oil and the onion. Sauté until the onion is soft and translucent, around 5-10 minutes.
- Add the garlic and let cook for another minute.
- Next, place the jackfruit in the frying pan along with the orange juice, beer or broth, chipotles, and tomatoes. Cover and turn down to low. Let simmer for 20-25 minutes.
- After 25 minutes have passed, add the remaining 2 teaspoons coconut oil and maple syrup. Turn the heat up to medium and let the extra moisture evaporate and get a few crispy bits on jackfruit. This should only take 2 minutes or so.
- To serve, heat up some tortillas. Add a big dollop of jackfruit on each tortilla along with some pickles, cilantro, avocado, hot sauce and lime.