In the same vain of Mexicali food (peep them nachos from three days ago), we present to you Jackfruit Chili Verde! It’s 100%… kind of… sorta… not really lectin-free. SORRY GUYS.

In all honesty, I set out to make this a lectin-free dish but little did I know that tomatillos are pretty much all seeds; “roast, peel, and de-seed them” seemed simple enough, but it’s not so easily applied. And you can’t really make chili verde without tomatillos, because that’d be like making marinara sauce without tomatoes, but, if it makes you guys feel any better, we did pressure cook it in hopes to rid of some of those lectins. Helpful? Maybe, maybe not.

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If you’re cool with some lectins or have no idea what they are, you can completely ignore all that! This jackfruit chili verde is made as close to an authentic pork shoulder chili verde while remaining vegan. Meat aside, chili verde sauce is typically vegan as is, which makes our jobs way easier.

The process starts by roasting a handful of assorted peppers – green jalapeños & poblanos in our case – and tomatillos to enhance their flavor as well as blacken their skins, making them easier to peel. Then, all those peeled peppers and tomatillos are tossed into a blender, thus creating instant sauce – a pretty spicy sauce at that. Then, that sauce is mixed with sautéed jackfruit and onions and pressure-cooked until all of the flavors have meld together and the jackfruit is stupid tender. From there, you can pull the jackfruit apart and serve it in a bowl with some tortilla chips, put into a tortilla to make tacos, or serve it over Spanish rice. Whatever you do, serve it with some vegan sour cream to cool it down, as this stuff is hot!

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Speaking of tacos, if you have some leftover sour cream, tortillas, queso, and strawberry avocado pico from those nachos I mentioned, then you’ve got everything you need to make a KILLER taco. Sour cream balances out the chili verde’s heat, tortillas wrap it all up (duh), queso adds cheesiness which is always a good thing, and strawberry avocado pico douses out sweetness from strawberries and creaminess from avocado. A taco worthy every day of the week… not just Tuesdays.

We hope you guys enjoy this chili verde, it’s:

  • Spicy, savory, aromatic, and lightly tangy
  • Comforting, soulful, and rich
  • Mexican-inspired
  • Vegan & gluten-free
  • A simple, pressure-cooked meal

If you like what your tastebuds are tellin’ ya, leave behind a nice rating, share your thoughts with us in the comments, or show us your creations by tagging @noeggsorham on Instagram.

Go Forth & Devour,
Ryan

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Roasted Chili Verde Braised Jackfruit (vegan & gluten-free)

  • Difficulty: Moderate
  • Print

Tender pulled jackfruit in spicy & fragrant roasted tomatillos & pepper sauce.

Ingredients

  • 1 lb tomatillos, husks removed
  • 2 poblanos
  • 2 green jalepenos
  • 3 medium garlic cloves, roughly chopped
  • 1 not-chick’n bouillon cube
  • 2 14-oz cans of jackfruit, drained
  • 1 medium yellow onion, finely diced
  • 2 tbsp avocado oil
  • 1/2 tsp cumin
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 c chopped cilantro
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 tbsp lime juice

Serving

Directions

  1. Turn broiler on high. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and lightly coat with a touch of oil. Place tomatillos and peppers on prepped sheet and place under broiler until the skins are heavily blackened in parts; about 4 minutes. Flip, and broil until second side is also blistered and blackened (that’d be a cool metal band name, huh?); about another 4 minutes.
  2. Wrap tomatillos in peppers in aluminum foil or place them in a large Tupperware container and let them steam for 10 minutes. Then, remove the skin and seeds of the peppers by cutting off the stems, cutting them in half, scraping out the seeds, and peeling back the skin. For tomatillos, simply remove as much of the skin as possible.
  3. Add tomatillos and peppers to a blender along with garlic and bouillon cube and blend until smooth; about 30 seconds. Set aside for now.
  4. Heat a medium-large sauté pan over high heat. Once hot, add in avocado oil, jackfruit, onion, cumin, salt, and stir until spices are thoroughly distributed. Cook – stirring once every two minutes or so – until onion are browned around the edges and jackfruit’s browned in spots; about 7 minutes.
  5. Add jackfruit mixture, tomatillo sauce, and bay leaf to a pressure cooker and pressure-cook on low for 45 minutes. If your cooker only has a high setting, cook it for 30 minutes.
  6. Once finished, you can store it in the pot until ready to use (up to 1 1/2 hrs) or you can use the quick-release valve to release pressure and enjoy immediately. Serve alongside tortillas and sour cream or make some bomb tacos using tortillas, queso, strawberry avocado pico, and sour cream!
  7. Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Reheat in a small pot over medium heat until hot.

*As far as tortillas go, we really like The Real Coconut’s coconut/cassava tortillas as they’re tasty, affordable, and pliable. If you can’t find those, our cassava tortillas are a soft, easy-to-make replacement for flour tortillas!

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