Jackfruit "chicken" drumsticks

 Jackfruit "chicken" drumsticks 

Jackfruit is a great and delicious ingredient to use when recreating meat dishes I can't wait to see you Haven't tried this recipe yet. If you do I'm sure it will be a game changer for you. 

       There are many different recipes for using pulled pork. It absorbs flavors well and has a coarse texture. Just be sure to buy the young green version and not the sweeter ripe version. If you've never heard of it, you'll find it canned and you can easily find it in Asian supermarkets. When you're looking for a can of jackfruit to use in your recipe, this is the young jackfruit to use - so there's no sweetness to spoil the flavors in this great recipe - canned in brine instead of syrup.

Ingredients:

spice mixture:

3/4 cup plain white flour

3/4 tablespoon of brown sugar

salt 1/2 tsp

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon of chili powder

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon celery salt

1/4 teaspoon sage

1/4 teaspoon of spices

1/4 teaspoon dried basil

A pinch of dried thyme

A pinch of turmeric

1 can aquafaba (the liquid drained from a can of chickpeas)

1/2 tsp kala namak (Indian black salt can be substituted for regular salt)

Optional: put in 1 teaspoon MSG/umami flavoring (I used the Aji-No-Moto brand, which helps bring out the spice blend)

Fu chicken:

2 small green jackfruit (565g before draining, 280g after draining)

1 medium cauliflower, washed and dried

1 + 1/2 cup chicken broth (I used an Australian proprietary organic brand)

2 teaspoons nutritional yeast (notch)

1 teaspoon onion powder

10 drops of liquid smoke

500-750ml vegetable oil for frying (I used canola). 

A note on ingredients:

I use chicken broth in this recipe, and you'd be surprised how many supermarket chicken and beef stocks are mistakenly vegan. It just goes to show how the flavors that many people love in their meat recipes are actually from the spice blends associated with these dishes. If not, feel free to substitute this with good old fashioned vegetable broth. I also use MSG in this recipe. I chose to use this because I want to replicate KFC as closely as possible, but this is a totally optional addition and if you leave it out it's still a really tasty recipe.

Method: 

First, open two cans of jackfruit, discard the liquid, and rinse the pieces in a colander. Each piece will be triangular shaped, with a firm core - then cut this core off before juicing the jackfruit so any seeds will come out and the brine is squeezed out and spread out to become more stringy.

Place the jackfruit in a saucepan with the chicken broth, nutritional yeast, onion powder, and liquid smoke. Bring the broth to a boil, stir, then cook over medium heat (for up to 10 minutes). Reduce the heat to very low, cover the pot, and cook for another 10 minutes or until the jackfruit has absorbed the liquid well. When you have finished cooking it in the fire, leave it to cool.

Take the cauliflower and cut all the leaves as close to the stem as possible (don't cut at the stem). Cut it into quarters, and cut it from the stem into the florets of the cauliflower—if you want to keep the stem attached to the florets, that's what makes your "bones" and also holds the flesh of the jackfruit. Then each cauliflower quarter cuts off its florets to get the basic shape of a drumstick.

Lay a piece of muslin roll on your stool, follow with one of the cauliflower bones, and spread a quarter of the jackfruit mixture around the cauliflower florets. Then wrap the wrap around the jackfruit pulp, leaving the cauliflower stem exposed.