WTF: What's That Food?

The jackfruit

As I am typing this, I sit here munching on some fresh jackfruit in a bowl beside me. The bowl is running low and I am tempted to get a second portion. I am certain that I will.

Story time:

My friends (including The Muscle of the Soul) were trying to figure out which of these cool vegan restaurants to go to for dinner. After checking out the menu, I got them all to agree on going to the one I wanted solely based on the fact that they sold jackfruit burgers. I was excited by the idea of a jackfruit burger because I knew I had my own bit of a jackfruit sitting in my fridge, waiting to be photographed/eaten for a WTF post.

The burger was delicious. The restaurant didn't lend itself to the best food photography, as the lighting was low to keep the vibes flowing. The trick to public food photography is to take the picture as discretely as possible so people don't think you are totally lame. So, at the end of the day, the photo of my jackfruit burger did not do it justice.

I have now run into two problems:

1. The next morning (AKA today) I started planning my jackfruit post. I could not convince myself to eat another jackfruit so soon, as tasty as the burger was, because it had a very unique taste and was quite a filling burger.

2. I was skeptical that my little jackfruit had gotten overripe so I did some research and discovered that my jackfruit was, in fact, overripe. While I probably could have gotten away with making a recipe anyway, the combination of problem No. 1 and No. 2 told me the recipe was a no go.

Never fear, I got creative on this one. I was about to give up and post only some links to different recipes below, until I learned that jackfruit seeds are edible. How cool is that?!

Below are the nutrition facts, my first impression, how to make the seeds tasty, and links to mouthwatering jackfruit recipes! Shall we?

Nutritionally speaking:

Your immune system will keep going strong with the help of this fruity guy. Packed with Vitamin C, the jackfruit is where it's at.

The fiber in the jackfruit will help you avoid constipation. Phewf.

Keep your skin glowing with all of the Vitamin A found in here!

Your bones will stay strong with the help of magnesium, which absorbs calcium. You can't have one without the other!

Iron is present in the jackfruit, preventing anemia and helping to promote that blood circulation your body needs. Blood flow helps with hair growth as well - an added bonus.

Anti-aging benefits, like radiant, younger looking skin, are another bonus of eating a jackfruit.

Boiling the seeds of the jackfruit can help respiratory problems like wheezing, so people suffering with asthma, take note!

First impression:

As I said before, the lighting was extremely dim. That made it hard to tell what I was really seeing. The burger looked a lot like pulled pork, which I later learned makes sense because the jackfruit is a common meatless substitute for that very food!

Today, cutting into the jackfruit sparked a lot of confusion. First I needed to search if it was even okay for me to still be eating this fruit. I could tell it was overripe but I figured that couldn't hurt much.

Then I made the mistake of getting rid of all of the seeds. This is what happens when you don't plan in advance. Luckily I had just replaced my garbage so I was able to salvage these seeds without a problem.

As I took bite by bite of this weird fruit, I couldn't stop staring at the piece I was holding in my hand. This strange, stringy fruit leant itself to being eaten like string cheese - I wanted to peel off small pieces before taking every bite.

The texture is somewhat of a mango that isn't quite ripe. I don't mean this in a bad way, just an observation. The jackfruit is a pretty chewy fruit when it's raw.

Speaking of mango, the jackfruit tastes like a combination of a mango and a pineapple. It's a distinct taste which I found refreshing after I got used to it.

How to boil jackfruit seeds:

I'm a big fan of jackfruit seeds. They are a great snack and easy to munch on. I only wish I had more! It was upsetting when I looked down at my bowl and realized that I had devoured all of the bite sized snacks.

The seeds have a nice salty taste (because salt is added to the water they are boiled in) and when you bite into them they are crispy on the outside and smooth on the inside.


Ingredients:

~ Jackfruit seeds

~ Water - Enough to cover the seeds

~ Sea salt - To taste


Instructions:

1. Rinse the seeds in warm water to remove any stickiness.

2. Place seeds in a pot of water. Add salt.

3. Cover and bring the water to a boil. Reduce to low heat and cook for 15 minutes.

4. Remove from heat, strain water, enjoy.

Bangin' jackfruit links:

Vegan Jackfruit Pulled 'Pork' Sandwiches - This is similar to what I ordered last night. I'd give this an A+.

Jackfruit Nacho Supreme - This may look like a lot of ingredients but they are mostly spices.

BBQ Jackfruit Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

Mu Shu Jackfruit Lettuce Wraps - Fresh!


~ Until next time, keep on eating. ~

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Sunny Summer Dinners - Spinach salad with mango, strawberry, blueberry, avocado and feta cheese

I really love Toronto in the summer time because I can finally come out of hiding in my apartment and get some good old Vitamin D. If it's not summer time here, it's freezing. I'm talking winter, fall and spring too. All three of those seasons are for hibernating until summer comes around. Now that it's finally warm again, I'm taking full advantage by spending all day everyday in the sun. The sun, as you probably know, makes people very hot. And while some people have the luxury of going back to their air conditioned apartments, I am a broke student living in a studio apartment and air conditioning is not available. That being said, I need to eat cool and refreshing dinners. Since today was an especially hot and humid day, I needed an especially fresh and cool dinner. My food options in my refrigerator are pretty limited right now so I thought about what I had a lot of. Fruit. So that's how I came up with this genius salad! It's an easy one to make. Just chop chop, snip snip and you're good to go.

Spinach salad with mango, strawberry, blueberry, avocado and feta cheese:

Ingredients:

I know you're really curious to find out what's in this salad.

~Spinach - As much or little as you'd like
~Mango - 1/2
~Strawberry - 4 or 5
~Blueberry - Plop on as many as you want
~Avocado - 1/2
~Feta cheese - Crumble to your heart's content
~Maple balsamic dressing

Instructions:

Step 1: Cut up a bunch of spinach leaves and place them in a bowl.

Step 2: Cut a mango and dice 1/2. Save the second half for another time.

Step 3: Slice the strawberries vertically.

Step 4: Cut an avocado and dice 1/2. You guessed it, save the second half for another time.

Step 5: Toss the mango, strawberries and avocado onto the salad. Add blueberries.

Step 6: Crumble as much or as little feta as you'd like.

Step 7: Add the maple balsamic dressing.

Enjoy!


Cinnamon Toast:

This is a silly little side dish but it's delicious and so quick to make.

Ingredients:

~Bread - 1 slice, I use spelt bread
~Butter - just enough to coat one slice of bread
~Cinnamon

Instructions:

Step one: Generously butter one slice of bread. Shake cinnamon on top. I personally think the more the better.

Step 2: Put it in the toaster.

Genius! Enjoy!

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First dinner - Avocado rice bowl with black beans and mango

After an exhausting day in the studio it was so nice to come back to my new place, take a hot shower and make a simple dinner that's both healthy and delicious! I don't have that many food options in my kitchen but everything that's in those cupboards can make such a wide variety of tasty foods. For my first meal I decided to make a simple rice bowl with a twist.

Avocado Rice Bowl:

This is incredibly simple to make and incredibly delicious to eat. It's the best of both worlds. This recipe is for one serving.

Ingredients:
~Brown basmati rice - 1 cup
~Avocado - 1
~Lime - 1 half
~Cilantro
~Salt - 1 pinch
~Pepper - 1 pinch
~Black beans - 1/2 can
~Mango - 1 half


Start by cooking the brown rice. I use a rice cooker which makes things pretty easy. All I have to do is pour in the single cup of rice and 2 1/4 cups of water and the cooker does the rest. Rice takes a while to cook so I made the avocado dip while I waited. Check the instructions on your rice box to make sure you use the correct amount of water for 1 cup of rice.

While the rice is cooking, peel, pit and mash the avocado. Chop and sprinkle in however much cilantro you feel is appropriate. I'm not the biggest cilantro fan (although it's growing on me) so I only added about half a handful. Next squeeze half a lime and add a pinch of salt and pepper. Mix this all up.

By the time you finish making the avocado dip, the rice will probably still be cooking...slowly but surely. I know you're craving to dig into that beautiful bowl of avocado but you'll have to wait a little longer. Might as well get ahead of the game and heat up black beans while you wait. I used a can of black beans so all I needed to do was pour them in a pot and wait for them to heat.

Slicing the mango takes only a minute or two but if you're still waiting on the rice, why not do it now? You can really use as much or as little mango as you'd like. I cut 3 big slices which is about 1/2 of a mango.

Eventually the rice will be ready! Pour all of the rice into the avocado dip. Mix it all up so the rice is completely covered in the delicious avocado. Now pour the black beans on top. I didn't end up using the entire can of black beans, so I saved whatever I had left in the pot after pouring my desired amount into the bowl. I ended up saving about 1/2 the can to eat another time. Lastly, just arrange the mango in a pretty way. There you have it! A beautiful rice bowl created with your own two hands! I wasn't kidding when I said this recipe was simple.

This was the first dinner I made in my new apartment and it was a goodie. It's inspired me to make more delicious recipes that are equally as simple and equally (or even more) mouthwatering! More recipes will be coming soon so stay tuned.

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