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Jackfruit Tacos
Ligaya Mishan, Aimee Nezhukumatathil
37 ratings with an average rating of 3 out of 5 stars
37
1 3/4 hours
Updated Oct. 12, 2023
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In a large bowl, mix flour, 2 tablespoons cornstarch, ½ teaspoon black pepper and the Kashmiri red chile powder with ¼ cup water to form a smooth, thick paste. Add paneer and, using your hands or a spatula, coat evenly.
In a small bowl, mix soy sauce, ketchup, rice vinegar and remaining 1 teaspoon cornstarch; set aside.
In a large frying pan or wok, heat the oil for 45 seconds on high. Add paneer pieces and fry undisturbed until paneer starts to change color, 10 to 30 seconds. Flip to fry the opposite side until paneer starts to turn golden, 10 to 30 seconds more. Remove paneer pieces and set aside.
To the same pan, stir in dried red chiles, fresh green chiles, garlic and ginger; cook for 30 seconds. Stir in bell pepper and onion and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until onion and bell pepper soften, 3 to 5 minutes.
Return the paneer to the pan and stir until everything is thoroughly mixed. Stir the soy sauce mixture then pour it into the pan. Cook, stirring, until the sauce evenly coats the paneer, onion and bell pepper, about 3 minutes. Top with additional black pepper and the scallions. Serve with rice or on its own.
To make about a cup of paneer (although it’s easy to multiply), bring a quart of whole milk to a boil. Remove from heat. Add 2 T. white vinegar. Let it stand for 10 minutes. Pour into a cheesecloth-lined sieve. Gather the cheesecloth in your hand and gently squeeze to remove the excess whey. Transfer the "bag" of curds to a small plate. Put another plate on top and put a weight (like a big can of tomatoes) on top. Refrigerate for up to 2 days. It will be firm enough for this recipe in an hour.
This is a very easy and tasty dish! Even my kids loved it (I made it less spicy than the recipe). One of the best dishes I've made from this website.
Would halloumi work?
I made this with only things in my pantry, so thus: Used halloumi instead of paneer. Worked great. Will definitely try it with paneer too though when I can. Didn't have any dried chilies so I used red pepper flakes. Used red jalapenos for the fresh. Subbed chopped tomatoes for ketchup. No ginger :( It's still so delicious! 10/10. Will make again with the proper ingredients! The paste to coat the cheese is delicious and makes it really crispy and golden.
I’m gonna try baking this tonight and see how it goes. Using extra firm tofu.
I love this, very similar to Gobi Manchurian. I do extra bell peppers and onions and I substitute queso blanco for the paneer, which is hard to find around us. The queso blanco holds up to pan frying and has a delicious texture.
Paneer is really easy to make yourself with milk and lemon juice or vinegar. I don't have exact instructions in my head, but you can Google how to make paneer.
Wonder if one could substitute tofu for the paneer?
Could this dish be made in an air fryer?
Even in the “rural south” you should be able to find queso blanco (a great paneer substitute!) Mexican groceries have many types of cheese that work, queso blanco is my favorite, queso de fried would work too but it’s saltier. Halloumi would also work well and Aldi usually carries it, just don’t get the marinated version.
I was wondering the same thing as Shelly so found this: https://www.indianhealthyrecipes.com/how-to-make-paneer-cubes-at-home/
According to Grammar-Monster.com: ""Chile," "chili," and "chilli" are all correct spellings for the hot pepper. The spelling you should use depends on whether you are following US or UK writing convention or whether you are Hispanic."
Made this tonight! I doubled the sauce recipe, added sambal and a touch of Thai chili sauce. I coated the paneer cubes in the flour-cornstarch mix, without liquid, and baked the cubes at 425° for a half hour. I omitted the fresh garlic and chilis and added the ginger to the sauce. Along with the bell peppers I added bok choy because I had it in my fridge and it was going to go bad. My husband and I really liked it! I want to try this with cauliflower as others have suggested.
Im a bit delicate about “spicy” food, so used just 1/2 jalapeño and 1/2 Fresno for the green and red chilis. No doubt much less spicy than intended, and perhaps the flavor shifted. However, besides that switch followed recipe exactly and it’s phenomenal!
Addition of halved cherry tomatoes and half inch sliced zucchini added some sauce (to boost the ketchup) and crunch. The spice and veggies combined well with the saltiness of the cheese.
I wanted this to work so badly but it didn’t. The ketchupy sauce doesn’t meld with the other flavors. And the three serranos rendered the dish too spicy for my kids to tolerate (sad, because ketchup). I used super firm tofu, well drained, and did not add water to the flour mixture. The tofu cooked up great, but the end product just didn’t meet expectations. Served over basmati rice.
Tried this with tofu, and the spicy paste stuck to the pan instead of the tofu. I guess I don't know how to cook tofu. Overall, ok flavors but not worth the effort.
Tasty enough but the flavors are unbalanced. Dark soy sauce isn’t as flavorful as regular so I would do half and half instead. Also, even with the ketchup it isn’t sweet enough so we needed to add some honey to make it less dull. Also would recommend increasing the amount of sauce.
This was tasty and came together super quick (maybe even less than the stated time) but I’d double the amount of sauce, and add more garlic and a bit more ginger.
Never had/cooked with paneer before. I made my own. It came out a bit crumbly but ok I think. Ratios seemed off. Even with exactly 1 lb. of paneer I didn't have enough batter to thoroughly coat all the pieces. 3 serranos made this crazy spicy for me (I'd cut down in future). I also didn't think it had enough sauce for my taste. A bit of commercial sweet chile sauce added over my bowl at the end actually improved this a lot for me and cut the heat a bit. Not a repeat for me.
Incredible recipe! Why did I wait so long to make this?
What a great combination of flavors! Used queso de freír instead of paneer and cayenne instead of Kashmiri chile powder. Skipped the dried chiles. The serranos and cayenne provided sufficient heat.
Loved it! I added some Maggi hot & sweet sauce to the marinade as well. Super tasty recipe
Wow. This was GREAT!!!!
This was delicious!
This was so good! Very quick + utilizes lots of pantry / fridge staples. Plus lots of room for customization and adding extra veggies <3
The batter came off my paneer in a goopy mess when I tried to fry it. I used frozen cubed paneer and soaked it in cold water to thaw per package instructions. I’m not sure what went wrong but sadly had to give up.
This was pretty easy and really good. I baked the paneer at 425 for about 30 minutes and was happy with the result, although frying it would probably get it even crispier. Tofu would also be good I think. I used fresh chilis and doubled the sauce and veggies.
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