The Fattest Vegan Ever: Vegan TUNA fish! (Made from jackfruit)

Ah! I am so excited! Fake fish! When I was 7 I decided to stop eating meat but it was another year before I gave up fish because it's so freaking tasty. I wish it wasn't a dead animal but there you go. That is why I am SO HAPPY to have found a way to make delicious fake tuna!

LOOK:

So I have only recently read about this amazing dream meat substitute called jackfruit and I couldn't wait to try it! I went straight down to the amazing Indian supermarket near my house and lo and behold I found it. Of course I bought 5 cans straight away (I was certain I would like it) and set to work messing about with it. So here is my recipe for FAKE TUNA. Sorry for all the capitals but I am HAPPY.

JACKFRUIT:

I must apologise for my low quality pictures, I was too impatient to take good pictures and I wanted to eat the damn food.

Yum yum here is my avocado and tuna salad sandwich:

Oh... I forgot to take any pictures of preparation as well, so it will just be the ingredients/ method this time. Many many more apologies.

Ingredients:

If these ingredients look daunting to you, don't fear! Many of them you can miss out. I will explain below.

1 can young jackfruit in brine
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp paprika
1- 2 tbsp dried seaweed
A couple of dried mushrooms
1/2 tsp black salt
Lemon juice
Pepper
Sweetcorn
Cucumber relish
1- 2 tbsp vegan mayo

I would say the most important ingredients from this list are the jackfruit, salt, mayo, lemon juice and seaweed.

All of the others you can miss out if you don't have them. The salt can be normal table salt, I used black salt (kala namak) for it's sulphur taste, it helps it taste more fishy. I used dried mushrooms as they add a savoury taste and a slightly meaty texture, but no worries if you don't have any. The paprika gives a tasty flavour but importantly gives it a pink tinge which makes it look more like tuna! The cucumber relish is something my mumma made and so I just added it because I had it, it adds a really nice flavour and so if pickle is your thing, add whatever you wish. Anyway, enough of the babbling, here is the method:

Method:

First: finely chop the seaweed up. Use whatever seaweed you like, I used a sheet of sushi nori. The amount you use depends on how fishy you want it to taste, 1 to 2 tbsps of seaweed flakes should do it. Add the finely chopped seaweed to a saucepan and add a little boiled water, just enough to cover! Next, take a few dried mushrooms and finely chop them too. Also add them to the pan. Bring to the boil and add water when it starts to look dry. Simmer for about five minutes.

You can now add your paprika, black salt and olive oil to the pan and take it off the heat!

Next step is to prepare the jackfruit! Drain the can and just give it a rough chop on a chopping board. It doesn't have to be too small. Add the jackfruit to the pan of seaweed and flavourings and take a potato masher and give it a good ol' mash.

Now you can add the final ingredients! The mixture shouldn't be hot, but if it is, wait for it to cool down before you add the mayo or it will melt. Add in the juice of half a lemon, or more to taste, freshly ground pepper and mayonnaise of your choice (recipe here). I used this lemongrass flavour one:

Optional extras are sweetcorn and cucumber pickle. Give it a good stir, leave to chill and then you are good to eat! I served it in a toasted sandwich with avocado. So yum!