Young jackfruit is the perfect ingredient for delicious, vegan enchiladas! Here I include instructions for verde enchiladas, seasoned two different ways to appease two separate cravings.
I’ve been making a lot of enchiladas lately, and I cook for several people with different dietary needs, so I’ve been making a lot of variations in each batch. The two options for these which I’m sharing today aren’t to comply with diets, but rather to satisfy individual appetites.
From land to sea, and without cruelty, because it’s not living beings we’re using to make this meal (I mean, of course not!). I share one option to use seasoning (from land) to use the jackfruit as “chicken” and another option using kelp powder (from the sea) to give the jackfruit more of a “crab” of seafood flavor. Both of these variations are favorites of mine which satisfy separate cravings, and both have stories from before my vegan journey…
Before going vegan, one of my signature dishes was for verde enchiladas which (I hate to say this, but most of us did eat meat at one time) included chicken. It was kind of different than the more traditional enchiladas I grew up having. I did a weird cheese blend (using mozzarella and swiss) and I used flour tortillas when my nina had always used corn. Because I knew these were white-girl butchered (but to me, and everyone I made them for, they tasted amazing) I called them, “Gringa-ladas.” Gringa, if you were unaware, is Spanish slang for, “white girl,” and ladas because they’re enchiladas, and well, you know me… I like to make up words. *shrug*
Though these aren’t an exact swap from the way I used to make them, they satisfy that craving. And they’re not as exact because since then, my taste buds have changed. For example, in my Gringa-ladas I included olives, but now, with the jackfruit, I like them much better with black beans. Perhaps my body is just craving the plant-based protein source. Which would make sense because our bodies usually know what it is we’re needing.
The seafood (let’s just call it, “krab”) versions of these I made for the first time for dinner one night a month or two ago when I happened to crave crab flavored enchiladas. I say, “crab flavored” because it was the flavors I was craving, if I actually think about eating the real thing anymore it grosses me out, and make me sad.
In my omnivorous days, I never made seafood enchiladas, but I do have a story about a restaurant they remind me of. I grew up in Santa Cruz, which is on the central coast of California between Monterey and San Jose. Every time we drove south into Monterey, we’d drive through a small town called, Moss Landing.
There was a restaurant in Moss Landing, The Whole Enchilada, and it had a big mural on the side of the building of a guy wearing a big sombrero and shoving a huge enchilada into his mouth. It was funny, and I’d always noticed it whenever we were driving through town. Well one day, when I was a teenager, my mom suggested actually stopping there to eat. She recommended the crab enchiladas because it was their specialty. Those weren’t anything I’d have thought of ordering on my own, but because I did, crab in Mexican food (and now also krab), always makes me think of that restaurant and Moss Landing. Maybe if that restaurant is still there, one day they’ll carry jackfruit, or who knows, perhaps they already do!
Okay, I know I’ve been babbling, but I do like sharing my thoughts on food and my stories behind my recipes. You probably just scroll through it all like I mostly do on recipes blogs, and that’s okay, so long as you love the food!
For this recipe, you will need to find young jackfruit, canned in water and not brine or syrup. Brine works fine for some jackfruit recipes like if you’re making pulled BBQ jackfruit or my Buffalo Ranch Jackfruit Wraps, but the sauces in those have a bolder flavor which somewhat drowns out the brininess.
Jackfruit canned in water is a little harder to find. I get mine at a large Korean market about 20 miles south from where I live. A bit of a drive, but I always stock up! Another option is ordering it online. Unfortunately, that tends to get expensive. However, my friend recently told me you can get it at Walmart.com with an in-store pick-up, and it’s only about three dollars per can.
I’m not going to go into a whole lot more of the recipe details, I’ll let that happen in the instructions below, but I will mention one other harder-to-find item. If you are making my krab version, it calls for kelp powder. I buy mine in bulk at health food stores, but if you cannot find it, it as well can be ordered online. A little pricey doing it this way, but a little bit goes a long way.
Before I go, I’ll let you know these have been both vegan and omni approved by different friends of mine giving them two big thumbs up! In fact, I’ve already been requested to make more of the krab! If you enjoy these as well, please let me know by leaving a comment below or tagging me on Instagram with a pic of yours, @veggiesattiffanis!
Vegano Verde Jackfruit Enchiladas
Ingredients
- 1 17 oz can young/green jackfruit, in WATER — drained, rinsed, and seeds removed (jackfruit in brine or syrup will not work for this recipe)
- 6 - 8 gluten-free tortillas, corn or flour or tortillas of choice
- 14 oz verde (green) enchilada sauce
- 1/2 batch Fresh Almond Mozzarella or store-bought vegan mozzarella of choice
- 1/2 yellow onion, diced
- 1/2 cup, heaping fresh cilantro leaves
- 1 cup black beans, cooked
- 1 Tbsp *non-soy vegan cream cheese (optional)
For chick'n style...
- 1 cube Edward & Sons Not-Chick'n Cubes bullion or other brand of dry chicken-flavored vegetable bullion for 2 cups broth (without the water)
- 1/4 - 1/2 cup water
For krab style...
- 1/2 tsp kelp powder
- 1/8 tsp Old Bay Seasoning
- 1/4 - 1/2 cup vegetable broth
Instructions
- Take the jackfruit and cut off the hard, triangular chunk from the bottom of each piece. Discard the removed chunks. Roughly chop the saved jackfruit and add it to a medium-sized bowl.
- Take either the bullion or krab seasonings and add it to the bowl with the jackfruit. Stir the seasonings into the jackfruit pieces until they're well coated. If using bullion, you may need to smash it up with a fork, or sometimes I use my fingers.
- Add the onion to a skillet heated to medium heat with a small amount of the water or broth. Sauté onion until it becomes translucent, then add the jackfruit to the skillet, along with the cream cheese (if using) and 1/4 cups more of water or broth. Let simmer for about 15 minutes, or until liquid is absorbed. Set aside.
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Lightly oil a 9" x 13" baking dish and spread the bottom of the dish with a small amount of the enchilada sauce. Heat a small skillet, coated with oil, to med-high heat. Once the oil is hot, add a tortilla and cook for about 30 seconds to 1 minute on each side, until tortilla is soft. Add tortilla to the baking dish. Add a spoonful of the sauce to the middle of the tortilla. Then add some jackfruit, black beans, vegan mozzarella, cilantro, and another spoonful of sauce. Roll the tortilla and secure with a toothpick. Continue with more tortillas until jackfruit is gone.
- Top the rolled enchiladas with the remaining sauce. Use a brush to spread it around evenly. Next, drizzle (or spread) any remaining mozzarella (if using store-bought just sprinkle on a handful). Next, if desired, you can sprinkle with any remaining cilantro (or you can instead do this after they have cooked). Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and place in the oven. Bake for 25 minutes, or until sauce on the bottom is bubbly.
- Remove foil, bake for an additional 5 minutes.