Sweet Chilli “Chicken” Oriental Bowl
“Chicken'“? Why the apostrophises, you may ask. Because this chicken is vegan friendly using 100% plant based products and 100% delicious flavour pairings to form the best edible partner in crime duo . So are you ready to find out how you create chicken without actual chicken? Follow along so you can make and enjoy this sweet chilli “chicken” orient bowl.
Although this is a vegan friendly dish, you can still get friendly with it even if you may not be a vegan yourself. It’s quick, easy, nutritious and can be pre-made for a speedy warm-up dinner or lunch time meal prep. The best part? This recipe contains no soya, soy based ingredients or weird textured fake meat products. It does, however, use a rather under used, undiscovered, none mainstream ingredient. That is the jackfruit.
Jackfruit - fruit or vegetable?
Technically the jackfruit is a fruit, being a relative to the fig and breadfruit. It grows in the warm, tropical areas of Southeast Asia, Brazil and Africa. It’s large casing means the inner fruit is tender and soft, similar to that of the lychee.
Rather strange to put a fruit into a recipe as a chicken substitute but bare with me, because after you read into and understand more about the jackfruit, it won’t seem like a recipe to avoid. So is it a fruit or vegetable?
How does a tropical fruit translate to mimicking or act as a replacement to chicken? Believe it or not, it all comes down to the consistency of the fruit when stripped down to it’s core and even more so when cooked. Because the flesh is rather stringy, it lends itself to being pulled pretty much as you would with pulled chicken or pork. Funnily enough it starts to look exactly like the Mexican style pulled chicken or pork but without the pain of dealing with raw animal products.
Grill it, pan fry it, barbecue it, smoke it, bake it, instant pot it, deep fry it or slow cook it - jackfruit really does take to any cooking technique. You can be in peace when playing around with jackfruit as it’s very difficult to over cook it, which is very different to cooking with the flesh of a cooks. The rather neutral or bland flavour means it takes very well to any flavours you en-part and honestly, it needs a good coating of something tasty because it doesn’t taste like much on it own.
Think about this for a second, in animal meat that contains a lot of saturated fats and cholesterol, jackfruit contains none. It is also low of calories and sodium and has a natural source of fibre and potassium, so you’re really getting your daily nutrition in at the same time.
In this recipe we use a delicious mix of chilli and agave syrup to give a balanced sweet and spiced flavour. Allowing the jackfruit to cook on an oil-less pan, gives a nice charred colour and flavour before you have added any other ingredients. If you use oil, the jackfruit will fry and spit a lot due to the contents of water. I find shredding the jackfruit is achieved best when bare frying it (oil-less pan) to remove the water and then charring and pulling from there.
Oriental Bowl
Using the Oriental Bowl from my friends at freak of Nature Soul Foods. The base is packaged and ready for only a 10 minute heat up. Their products also contain ONLY real and natural ingredients so you can be assured you are eating real food (not a like a lot of packaged meals). That means you’re getting back time whilst improving your nutrition all at once. All their products are 100% vegan, bio, natural and preservative free. Take a look at the ingredient contents - so clean!
You can also add extra veggies into the base to dose up on a little extra nutrients and greens. I love adding steamed broccoli or butter baked cauliflower. If you are keen for extra protein on top of the jackfruit, try a boiled or poached egg on top or baked tofu (for a great vegan alternative). Bake a fillet of salmon or grill some scallops and you’ll have yourself a real treat even fit for a cosy Christmas dinner.
Check out my other Freak of Nature recipes Taboulé and Shaved Brussels Sprout salad with Spiced Peanut Dressing, Japanese Oriental Bowl with Century Eggs, Thai Veggie Curry Burger with Spiced Cucumber Relish and Two Herb, Heirloom Tomato and Plum Taboulè Salad.
Sweet Chilli “Chicken” Oriental Bowl
Ingredients
1 Oriental Bowl from Freak of Nature
1x200 gram tin jackfruit
2 tbsp canola oil
1 small onion, diced
1/2 leek, halved and sliced
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tsp agave syrup
1 garlic clove
1 cup coriander, plus extra to serve
Method
Cook Oriental Bowl according to the instructions on the back of the Freak of Nature packet.
In a food processor or blender, blitz the coriander along with 3 tbsp water and the garlic clove until smooth. Set aside.
In a small pan, cook the jackfruit along with the oil on medium/high heat. Cook for for 3-4 minutes on one side then flip, cooking 2-3minutes on the other. Add the onion and cook for a further 2-3 minutes.
Using two forks, begin to break up the jackfruit by tearing small chunks (the jackfruit should naturally string like slow cooked pulled pork or shredded chicken… hence the “chicken”). The larger, centre parts of the fruit do take slightly longer to break apart. Once most of the jackfruit has been shredded, add the leeks, cayenne pepper, salt and a splash more oil if you find it is sticking to the pan. Add the agave syrup and the blended coriander. Cook for 1-2 minutes.
Serve the oriental bowl as the base with a declines vegan chicken on top. This is also great in tacos with a drizzle of fresh lime juice.
