This tropical amazing fruit is not only delicious in sweet and savoury dishes but it is also rich in energy, dietary fibre, minerals, vitamins and free from saturated fats or cholesterol!
Ingredients:
- 1 chopped onion
- A bunch of curry leaves
- Jackfruit (either fresh or 1 can)
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 can of organic plum tomatoes (or fresh tomato chopped)
- 1 tsp of cumin seeds
- 1/2 tsp of dried chilli
- 1 tsp of turmeric powder
- 1tsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1/2 tbsp coconut oil
Method:
Add coconut oil to frying pan, and allow it to melt, then curry leaves, cumin seeds, chilli, garlic and fry for a minute or two. Then, add onion and fry for 5 minutes stirring occasionally.
Once the onion is a bit soft, add the plum tomatoes, turmeric, cumin powder and a tiny bit of water. Simmer for a few minutes.
If you have canned jackfruit, get the jackfruit out of the can and into a sifter and shred the jackfruit, you will notice it has some harder bits and some sort of small soft seeds. I normally discard this and just use the soft parts that are easily shredded.
After this, pour the jackfruit in the sauce, cover the pan and simmer for 15 minutes, add some salt and garam masala, stir and allow ingredients to blend for an extra 5 minutes. I serve this with basmati rice and fried pak choy with garlic =) Garnish with coriander
Health benefits of jackfruit
100 g of edible jackfruit bulbs provide 95 calories. The fruit is made of soft, easily digestible flesh (bulbs) made up of simple sugars like fructose and sucrose that when eaten replenishes energy and revitalises the body instantly.
Jackfruit is rich in dietary fibre, which makes it a good bulk laxative. The fibre content helps protect the colon mucous membrane by binding to and eliminating cancer-causing chemicals from the colon.
Fresh fruit has small but significant amounts of vitamin-A, and flavonoid pigments such as carotene-ß, xanthin, lutein and cryptoxanthin-ß. Together, these compounds play vital roles in antioxidant and vision functions. Vitamin A is also required for maintaining integrity of mucusa and skin. Consumption of natural fruits rich in vitamin-A, and carotenes has been found to protect from lung and oral cavity cancers.
Jackfruit is a good source of antioxidant vitamin-C, provides about 13.7 mg or 23% of RDA. Consumption of foods rich in vitamin C helps the body develop resistance against infectious agents and scavenge harmful free radicals.
It is one of the rare fruits that is rich in B-complex group of vitamins. It contains very good amounts of vitamin B-6 (pyridoxine), niacin, riboflavin, and folic acid.
Further, fresh fruit is a good source of potassium, magnesium, manganese, and iron. Potassium is an important component of cell and body fluids that helps controlling heart rate and blood pressure.