Vegan Jackfruit Carnitas Tacos with Cashew Sour Cream and Pickled Red Onion

I’ve had a few different takes on the jackfruit taco.  When shredded, jackfruit takes on a meaty texture that is perfect for absorbing whatever flavours you want to add.  I’ve had a traditional dry jackfruit mix on a taco, and a pulled pork style version as well.  I’ve seen recipes for jerk seasoned jackfruit mix, too.  After finding some jackfruit at a grocery store, I decided it was time to try my own.  I don’t know what took me so long!

The main part of this recipe is the jackfruit mix, but I also made some cashew sour cream, homemade chickpea flour tortillas and pickled onions.  If you are in more of a rush, you could certainly take the jackfruit and put it into corn shells with premade toppings.

Ingredients:

Cashew Sour Cream

• 1 c cashews
• 1/4 c raw hulled sunflower seeds
• juice of 1 lime (my lime wasn’t very juicy, so start at 1/2 and add more after tasting)
• 1 t tamarind juice (could use agave or other sweetener)
• 1/8th t of cumin
• 2 t of apple cider vinegar
• pinch of salt
• pepper, to taste
• water (start with 1/2 cup and keep adding until desired consistency)

Jackfruit Carnitas

• 2 cans of young jackfruit in brine, drained and rinsed with seeds removed (don’t get the mature jackfruit in syrup!)
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 T chili powder
• 1 t cumin
• 1 chipotle pepper in adobo, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• juice of half a lime
• 2 small tomatoes, diced
• 1 T tamarind juice (or other sweetener)
• 1/4 t salt
• 2-3 drops of liquid smoke

Directions

For the cashew cream, soak the cashews and sunflower seeds with enough water to cover them and let them soak for several hours, or over night.  If you are lazy like me, you can cover them with boiling water and let them sit while you make the jackfruit filling.

Heat a bit of oil in a large pan and add the onions.  Let the onions soften and then add the chili powder and cumin.  Next,add the chipotle pepper and garlic.  Add the lime juice, diced tomatoes, tamarind, salt and liquid smoke.  Let this cook on medium heat for about ten minutes.  Add the jackfruit and mash with a potato masher until it is shredded.  Let this heat through and then cover and cook on low heat for an hour, stirring occasionally.  I wanted my mixture to be a bit dryer, so I took the lid off of my pot and cooked it for an additional 15 minutes.

Once the jackfruit is close to being ready, you can make the cashew cream.  Use a blender to blend all of the ingredients, stopping to scrape down the sides a few times, until it is creamy and smooth.

For the pickled onions, I thinly sliced a red onion and put it in a bowl with apple cider vinegar, a bit of agave nectar and some salt.  I let it sit for an hour, although the longer the better for pickled onions.  There are lots of more specific recipes around on the internet.

For the tortillas, I made small chickpea flatbreads using this recipe as a nice replacement to corn tortillas.  I also added a bit of salsa.

I’m looking forward to my lunch leftovers tomorrow!