Vegan Pulled Pork is soul food and food for the soul.
‘Food for the body is not enough, there must be food for the soul’
When I first came across this dish I was so excited. I don’t actually like pork enough to order it, but it always looks and smells so good, so what better than an alternative that isn’t pork but smells and tastes just as good and is good for your body and soul
The first version I tried was from the Herbivorous Butcher, a company founded by a sister-brother duo (Dev….we have some work to do here…) and ‘dedicated to creating 100% vegan, meat and cheese alternatives that capture flavour, texture and nutrients without an negative affects to the environment, animals or your health’. Their products were a real eye opener for me, trying the pulled pork, shredded chicken, meat loaf, smoked gouda and cheddar and Mr. B loved it all
I decided if I was going to integrate this into our diet, I needed to make our own version, adapted for our palate (a little more umami for me and a little more spice for Mr. B). I noticed that all the meat products where made with jackfruit and so I decided to find some (fresh or tinned can be found in your local Chinese supermarket and is $1.50 a can), so a super healthy and cheap alternative. I tried the recipe using fresh jackfruit also, but there is a lot of waste of both jackfruit and time and energy and for me personally it wasn’t worth the energy to product ratio
Ingredients
- 2, 20oz cans jackfruit in brine, drained
- 2 cups water
- 1 bottle vegan BBQ sauce or home made vegan BBQ sauce
Vegan BBQ sauce
- 15oz can tomato sauce
- 3 tbsp. maple syrup
- 2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
- 3 tbsp. tamari
- 1 tsp. sweet smoked paprika
- 1 tsp. chilli powder (adapt to your spice tolerance)
- 1 tsp. dried basil or oregano
Method
- Make the vegan BBQ sauce by mixing all the ingredients together and leaving to sit for 1 hour to allow the flavors to infuse. You can of course use store bought to save time, just make sure it is vegan and gluten free
- Place the drained jackfruit in a slow cooker and turn to high heat
- Pour the sauce over the jackfruit and add the water
- Place the lid on and cook for 4 hours on high
- Open the lid and mush the jackfruit a bit until it resembled the look of pulled pork
- Cook on low until the sauce reduces down and the mixture becomes sticky
- If you don’t have a slow cooker, just put all the ingredients in a large pot and cook down until you have the right texture, 6-8 hours stirring every few hours, similar to a classic Italian ragout
- Allow to cool a little and serve with Chinese bao, taco shells, tortilla, mashed sweet potato or lettuce as the wrap
