Young Jackfruit Sambal Salad

I love wandering through the crowded, over-stocked isles of the Asian grocer searching for new flavours to try. This was exactly how I stumbled upon a huge can of young green jackfruit (durian). It only has approximately 115 cals for the entire can (2 cups) and its texture is dense and meaty which makes is perfect for things like curries or mock meat dishes and is so filling! I'm really glad to have found a non-processed alternative for mock-meat recipes. So how did I use my first can? I made a salad- but not just any salad. This salad is AMAZING! Seriously. I'd never tried young green jackfruit before so I was a little nervous. I decided to go for another strong flavour just in case I didn't like it (no need it's yum).

Young Jackfruit Sambal Salad

Makes 2 serves (pictured)
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 red chili- no seeds for me but if you're brave go for it.
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 cup desiccated coconut
1 can young green jackfruit
thumb size piece of ginger
water- approximately 1.5 cups
1 carrot
3 tomatoes
2 cups lettuce

• grind the spices
• chop chili
• grate the ginger
• mortar and pestle the spices, chili, ginger & coconut
• chop the jackfruit into small chunks (or however you prefer the texture to be)
• simmer in water until tender & water has evaporated
• dry fry the sambal mixture until fragrant & golden
• add jackfruit
• chop carrot, tomatoes & lettuce
• serve together, sprinkle with extra coconut & chili
• Enjoy!

This dish isn't hot or too spicy, they just impart subtle flavour- if you want it more intense feel free to bump up the quantities of chili, ginger, mustard seed and cumin seeds. I must confess- I was planning on eating this all in one go (that's why it's all on one plate) but I found it so filling I could only manage half. Now to all sane people that's a good thing but I loved this salad so much I was disappointed and found myself hoping I would get hungry again a couple of hours after dinner so I could eat the rest! But no...I was full all night and didn't even want dessert. After I had the time to think about how good this actually is I was happy but in the moment I was frustrated that I couldn't finish my yummy food. Never fear- I ate the rest for breakfast the next day :P
I hope you all give young green jackfruit a try!
All the best xxx