On the 15th of September, we hosted The Good Supper’s Fall Edition at Berg Burg. It was a hot-hot evening—perhaps the last this year with temperatures well over 30 degrees. Now, a month later, the mercury has dropped at least 20 Celsius and our summer dresses and open toed sandals have been replaced by wool coats and winter boots. Our chef of the evening, cookbook author and creator of Wholy Goodness, Jessica Prescott has shared this deliciously spicy recipe with us, to bring the heat back and help us remember those balmy nights. Enjoy!
Jackfruit Filling
Takes: 1 hour | Makes: 4 servings
1 onion
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tin jackfruit (550ml / 280g)
1 tin chopped tomatoes (400g)
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp liquid smoke
1 tsp chipotle flakes
3 cloves garlic
1 tbsp sugar
Juice of 1 lime
Oil for cooking
Heat a little oil over a medium heat in the bottom of a pan and add the finely chopped onion. Stir until transparent.
Add the cinnamon and cumin and stir until fragrant.
Drain the jackfruit and add this along with the tomatoes, tomato paste, liquid smoke, chipotle flakes, sugar, garlic and lime.
Lower the heat ad allow to simmer while you prep the salsa and other toppings, stirring occasionally.
After half an hour the jackfruit should be very tender, and you will be able to separate it out with your wooden spoon, tongs or a fork. Do this and stir it through the sauce once more so the sauce is evenly coated over all of the jackfruit bits.
You can use this same method but omit the tomato and spices and use a BBQ Sauce to simmer the jackfruit in. This is also really yummy in buns with coleslaw.
Chunky Mexi-Corn Salsa
Makes: enough to go with the nacho recipe or the taco recipe | Takes: 10 minutes
1 tin or 2 cobs of cooked corn or a C or 220g jar / tin
1 small red onion
2-3 tomatoes
1 capsicum
A large handful of coriander leaves
1 fresh lime
Salt to taste
First, prep your corn. If you are using tinned corn, place it in a strainer and allow it to drain while you prep the remaining ingredients. If using fresh corn, bring a pot of water to a boil, remove the husks from the corn and cut each cob in half. Once water is boiling, place the corn in there and allow to cook for approximately 3 minutes and then remove. Allow to cool as you prep your remaining ingredients before you remove the kernels and add them to the salsa.
Chop everything else: Finely chop the red onion and place in a medium sized bowl. Dice the tomato and capsicum and add to the bowl, making sure you scoop up all the juices and seeds from the tomato.
Chop the coriander and add, along with the corn kernels. Juice the lime and add this to the bowl with a little salt.
Use a spoon or your hands to combine everything
Cashew Cream
Have you seen how cashews grow? They grow on a tree, each nut the seed of a cashew apple, that grows on the outside of the fleshy fruit. To get to the nut, workers have to break through two layers of hard shell which is highly toxic and wreaks havoc on their hands, and can also ruin the nut that is nestled inside.
It is one of those incredible creations of mother nature that blows my freakin mind. I mean, who was the first person to break through those two layers of nut shell to find the nut inside? And then, after the shell making the nut go rancid, using different methods to figure out the best way to extract the nut without destroying it?
Takes: 20m | Makes: about 350ml
1 C (150g) of cashews
water
Either soak your nuts overnight in a bowl or jug filled with water, or boil them in a small saucepan filled with water for about 15 minutes. Most cashews have already been heat treated when they get to you so this isn’t going to render them ‘no longer raw’–they weren’t raw to begin with.
Pour off the soaking / boiling water and rinse the nuts, then place them in a blending receptacle and add enough water so that the nuts are just covered (it’s ok if there are a few bits sticking out the top).
Blend until smooth. If you require a runnier consistency, add a little more water.
Tacos
8 taco shells or soft tacos
Jackfruit filling
Avocado
Mexi-corn salsa
Cashew cream
Pomegranate seeds
To build the tacos, layer jackfruit, salsa, avocado, cashew cream and pomegranate seeds onto the soft tacos or taco shells.
