Jackfruit Carnitas

I made a trip down to Hong Kong City Mall this week & now have a fridge full of strange plants I've never tasted before. The first one I tried was Durian. Yuck! Seriously, the most horrid fruit ever. Jackfruit was next. Jackfruit looks similar to durian on the outside, but thankfully doesn't taste anything like it. The unripe version I picked up doesn't have much of a flavor at all. After searching for ideas, I read about a place that serves jackfruit carnitas. Hmm. Interesting, but no recipe to be found. With that idea as inspiration, here's what I did:

Jackfruit Carnitas


• 2 lb green jackfruit (frozen in water)


• 4 tBsp vegetable ghee (or shortening)


• 1 onion, sliced


• 1 lemon's juice


• 2 or more chipotle peppers, chopped (canned in adobo sauce)


• 4 tBsp adobo sauce (from that can I just mentioned)


• 2 cloves garlic, chopped


• 2 tsp salt


• some water


Thaw the jackfruit & squeeze out as much water as possible. Heat up the ghee on medium & fry the jackfruit for about 4 minutes a side. The jackfruit will absord most of the ghee & brown a little. Set aside.

Mix up the chipotles & everything except the onion in a bowl. When the jackfruit has cooled down enough to handle, throw it in the bowl & coat it in the sauce.

Dump it all into a crockpot, lay the onions on top & cover with water. Party for 8 hours then come back to the kitchen. Alternatively, you could let it simmer in water on the stovetop for 30 minutes or so.

Pull apart the jackfruit until it's nice & shredded. Serve it up on tortillas with the onions from the crockpot, more adobo sauce, avocado, tomato & cilantro.

Wild concept, I know, but the texture is on point & tastes like the marinade. Really.