I decided to run with my idea of cooking vegan dishes from now on. I’ve really started to embrace the vegan lifestyle, however I am not fully a vegan. To start with vegan recipes, I looked at the list linked here from Love and Lemons of 85 vegan recipes. I started with the Jamaican Jerk Vegan Tacos (recipe linked here).
The journey to make this dish was filled with roadblocks for me. First, it was kind of difficult to find canned jackfruit. I called Weis and they did not have jackfruit so I called Wegmans thinking that they would. They told me they did so I went to Wegmans, but they only had actual jackfruits that were uncut, not in a can. I have never worked with jackfruit before and this recipe calls for jackfruit in a can so I wanted to stick with that. If you have never seen jackfruit before, you know that they are huge and intimidating. I finally was able to find canned jackfruit at the Trader Joe’s.
My next issue was when I was actually cooking the dish. The recipe calls for either a habanero, serrano, or jalapeno pepper; all of which are very hot. I had some things cooking on the stove, and the pepper was one of them. I felt completely fine, but next thing I know all four of the other people in the apartment with me were coughing and sneezing. After about 10 minutes, one of them finally asks me if I am cooking with peppers, and I was. It turns out that peppers can make people cough and sneeze even if they’re being cooked 20 feet away. I had no idea! I also felt fine for the most part, maybe a little tingly in the eyes but I had nowhere near as bad a reaction as the other people I live with. I felt really bad about it. If you ever decide to make this recipe, make sure you warn the people around you first!
The jackfruit was really weird. Like I previously mentioned, I have never worked with jackfruit before, or even seen it before, so I had no idea what to expect. The recipe says that jackfruit gives a really good impression of meat, and this is definitely true. If I didn’t know that these tacos were vegan and someone served them to me, I would think that they had meat in them. And the jackfruit is also so much healthier than meat which is a big plus! Jackfruit pretty much takes the taste of whatever you season it with. With nothing it is really plain, kind of like tofu.
The meat part of the taco was really spicy but it balanced nicely with the mango salsa. I was lucky to find a really ripe mango that was super juicy and absolutely delicious. If you’re not a fan of spicy foods I would not recommend this recipe, or just don’t add the pepper. I also toasted my tortilla in a pan on the stove before stuffing.
First, it looks so yummy and I’m jealous that you were able to find a ripe mango because I normally can’t get good mangos until the summer! I also know what it is like to be someone affected by cooking peppers. Like your family, I cough a lot when peppers are being cooked. I’m glad you were able to find the jackfruit and have a good meal 🙂
That looks amazing! If you had just put the picture and not said that the “meat” looking thing was jackfruit I would 100% believe it was chicken or something. Mango is my kryptonite and one of my favorite parts of the summer when they’re finally in season, so I will for sure be trying out something similar to what you made.
It is so interesting the things you can exchange for meat in recipes! I have never heard of jackfruit but after reading your blog I’ll look for it in the store next time, I love spicy foods!