Friday, November 13, 2009

Avocado Stuffed with a Spicy Miso Dressed “Crab”



I bought a jar of jackfruit in brine on Wednesday at the Asian market. Today I wanted to play around with it and see if I could come up with an appetizer for Thanksgiving. I decided to use the jackfruit like crab. Since I bought the brined version it is a little salty and does a nice job of standing in for crab. Next time I may add a few thinly cut pieces of nori to add a fishy flavor.

The jackfruit looks remarkably like crab. The interior is "thready" and the exterior is a little tough and needs to be cut with a knife. Once the exterior is cut you tear the jackfruit into crab like pieces. I can’t wait to try more crab recipes with jackfruit.

This recipe is patterned after something my friend Ian makes. You could also add finely diced jalapeno and cilantro if you like. I made this quickly from what I had in my house. Here is what I made.

Avocado Stuffed with a Spicy Miso Dressed “Crab”
Serves 2

Ingredients:

½ tablespoon white miso
½ tablespoon mirin
1 teaspoon hot crushed peppers (wet hots)
1 teaspoon liquid aminos, to taste
1 tablespoon green onion, finely minced
¼ cup brined jackfruit, pulled into fine pieces that look like crab
1 pinch freshly ground black pepper
1 avocado, cut in half, pit removed and scored

Directions:

Combine the miso, mirin, hot crushed peppers and liquid aminos to taste. Whisk to thoroughly combine. Add the green onion and jackfruit and stuff into the avocado halves. Serve cold as an appetizer.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 174.19
Calories From Fat (64%) - 110.86

Total Fat - 13.66g
Saturated Fat - 1.9g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 328.47mg
Potassium - 547.85mg
Total Carbohydrates - 15.44g
Fiber - 6.55g
Sugar - 0.63g
Protein - 2.57g

Comments:

This turned out really well. Today was my first time using or eating brined jackfruit and I love it. I am definitely buying a few more jars to have on hand. I can imagine so many uses for the jackfruit. Living in Maryland near the Chesapeake Bay I am surrounded by crabs and crab recipes. I can’t wait to make some of the traditional recipes vegan.

9 comments:

  1. This looks really good and it's a great idea to put it in avocado. My interest is peaked...I've never had jackfruit before and I don't know what it tastes like. Sounds like it would be the perfect thing for a vegan crab cake too.

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  2. Also...is white miso the same as mellow miso?
    I can't find any around here labeled as white.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Rose,

    The brined jackfruit I bought has a very bland but salty flavor. It didn't taste like much on its own but worked well in this recipe.

    I agree that the jackfruit would probably work well as the crab in a crab cake. I would probably only use the tender interior of the jackfruit in a faux crab cake though.

    My miso is market mellow white miso so I am going to assume it is the same as regular mellow. When you open the container it looks more golden in color so I don't know why they call it white. The hubby was telling me this morning that he really likes the miso dressing he has been eating this week. I think miso has become a new staple food at our house.

    talk to you soon,
    Alicia

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ok, so the miso in my fridge sounds like it's the same kind that you have...I'm going to try this dressing tonight.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Rose,

    Great! I can't wait to hear what you think.

    The hubby and I are sort of addicted to it at the moment. It works really well with apple for some reason. But it was also good with avocado this afternoon. I don't know how I would feel about it on just a green salad with vegetables. But this may be due to the fact I started having it with fruit.

    talk to you soon,
    Alicia

    ReplyDelete
  6. Debra,

    Thanks! The brined jackfruit is a much better crab substitute than I expected. It has definitely gone on my perpetual pantry inventory list now.

    Alicia

    ReplyDelete
  7. What a brilliant idea! I'm a BIG fan of avocados and of course miso, so I can't wait to try this recipe. I've been using a LOT of white miso lately, other than the salad dressing I put it in my noodle soup, it was so delicious.

    p.s. I hope I can find liquid aminos, I've no idea what it looks like!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oraphan,

    I am so glad you like the idea of it. You totally have me hooked on the white miso now too. According to my Japanese friend it is traditional in soup but you add it at the end of cooking because it deteriorates in the heat.

    Liquid aminos is essentially a very low sodium soy sauce. You can always substitute soy sauce but know that the sodium count will be more than double what I posted above. I am going to put a link in to the product so you can see the bottle.

    Alicia

    ReplyDelete

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