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Young green Jackfruit makes a great shredded meat sub. Easy, Vegan, Soy-free Gluten-free Grain-free Indian curry. Simple spices, amazing flavor.
On a Jackfruit roll with this easy Jackfruit Curry. Simple, well spiced and delicious!
Young Green Jackfruit is available in canned form in brine in Asian stores and some larger Indian stores. It is also available online on amazon or Indian stores. Jackfruit is called “Kathal” in Hindi which might be the name used in Indian stores. You might also be able to find the whole Green Jackfruit in the grocery section in asian stores or Indian stores depending on the store and season. Call and check before heading to the store as it is much cheaper in the stores than online.
Jackfruit has been used for ages in some cuisines. It is the largest tree borne fruit in the world and is rich in Vitamin C, B6 and potassium. It has a meaty interior with a mild flavor. The seeds of the fruit are edible too.
This Jackfruit curry uses a few spices. Use any that you have and add some garam masala. Cook longer to infuse the Jackfruit with flavor. Serve with rice, quinoa, couscous, flatbread or cooked grains of choice.
More easy curries and Jackfruit recipes from the blog
- Jackfruit Meatballs Tacos
- Cauliflower Kofta Curry -Baked Cauliflower Veggie Balls in sauce
- Tofu in Spinach curry – Palak tofu
- No Chicken Dhaba Chikn curry.
Whats your favorite way to serve Jackfruit?
For variation: You can also make this curry with cooked beans or chickpeas, or use shredded squash or vegan chikn subs.
Easy Jackfruit Curry
Ingredients
- 1 tsp oil
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
- 1/2 tsp nigella seeds
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 dried red chilies
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 5 cloves of garlic , chopped
- 1 inch ginger , chopped
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 20 oz can green Jackfruit, drained, rinsed and squeezed to remove excess brine. Also chop into smaller pieces if too big., (see the first part of the post for availability details)
- 2 medium tomatoes pureed, or 1.5 cups puree
- 1/2 to 3/4 tsp salt or to taste
- 1 to 1.5 cups water
Instructions
- Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. When hot, add cumin, mustard and nigella seeds and let them start to sizzle or pop. 1 minute. Add bay leaves and red chilies and cook for a few seconds. Add in the onion, garlic and ginger and a pinch of salt. Cook until translucent. 5 to 6 minutes. Stir occasionally.
- Add jackfruit and cook until golden on some edges. 3-4 mins. I like to toss the jackfruit in 1 tsp cornstarch or flour for extra crispy ness. This is optional
- Add coriander, turmeric, black pepper and mix well. Add pureed tomato, salt and mix well. Cover and cook for 10 minutes.
- Uncover and cook for a few minutes to thicken the tomato puree. Also, shred the Jackfruit a bit if you like.
- Add water, cover and cook for 10- 15 minutes. Taste and adjust salt and spice. Reduce heat to medium low and cover and cook for another 10 minutes or longer until desired consistency. You can also add in 1/4 cup nondairy cream or yogurt for a creamier sauce and simmer for a minute. Garnish with cilantro and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I made this tonight and it was amazing! My first time to use jackfruit and I was a little intimidated by it… but your recipe was super easy and I made mine in my Instant Pot pressure cooker. Holy moly! Don’t know what I did without my IP. Thank you for a great recipe and also pressure cooker instructions. I’ll be sharing this on the IP FB pages I am a member of 🙂 The only edit I made was to add 1/2 cup red lentils along with the jackfruit.
Thats awesome!
Finally got round to making this and it was wonderful. But what’s the other dish in the picture, and is there a recipe?
awesome! its quinoa pilaf. not on the blog yet. will post it some time in the future and link it then.
This was the recipe that got me introduced me to Indian cooking. I bought your book and have been hooked ever since!
I’m going to make this again tonight. The first time I made it I didn’t drain the Jackfruit. Is that okay, or do you not recommend doing that?
oh, yes you do drain that, as the brine can be very salty. its like canned chickpeas. you want to drain the liquid and use chickpeas.
Purchased fresh jackfruit at the farmers market. Going to prepare it for the first time ever. I like your curry recipe so I’ll use it. Do you have any pointers on how to prepare and cook the fresh jackfruit?
jackfruit can get pretty slimy, so use oiled hands and knife or wear gloves. You can chop it into half and then slice and peel the skin. Remove the hard center part if it feels too hard. something like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsafP-TDi_k . In the video the person removes the center first. Then he probably will slice it and remove the peel of each of the slice and use the rest of the meaty part which also includes a few seeds.
If I wanted to add more veggies, what would you suggest? Thanks.
anything will work. Add cauliflower, broccoli, peas, potatoes.
I stir fried onion celery & red pepper; these vegetables heightened the flavor of the Jackfruit