Growing up I did eat some meat and for the most part when I would eat meat, I had such a hard time wanting to chew or swallow it, in fact I’d try and put it in my napkin to through it out.
This meal was different for me, I always enjoyed Swiss pepper steak. It is an older recipe from my childhood, whether my grandma or mom would make it I looked forward to eating this meat for once. So, when I started cooking for my family this was one that I would make for them but stopped for a while when I went to fully vegetarian.
I had tried various substations, but I never could find any that really did it for me, that is until I found jackfruit. This was the game changer! Not only does it make a great substitute for beef, but I think it gives it an even better taste.
Jackfruit is an excellent source for vitamins like B6 and C but it also helps give benefits to people with diabetes, and heart problems just to name a few. Jackfruit helps by lowering cholesterol, blood pressure, aids in maintaining eye health, chronic inflammation. ( as always check with your provider to see how this may or may not help you with your diabetes.)
The list goes on with benefits and to read studies about this amazing fruit is interesting to me, but in short if you are looking for a healthy meal and want to replace the meat in this dish, I think you’ll be surprised at how well jackfruit works and you can always use something other than white rice with it.
Jackfruit Swiss Steak:
Serves 4 , prep and cook time total is 30 minutes
2 cans of jackfruit drained and rinsed
1 15 ounce can crushed tomatoes with garlic and chilis
1 green bell pepper cut in bite sized pices
1 yellow bell pepper cut in bite sized pices
4 cloves of garlic diced
1/2 white onion diced
1 Tablespoon of olive oil
About 1 tablespoon of nutritional yeast
Salt and black or white pepper per taste
Rice cooked per package directions (I used Jasmine)
In a large deep skillet on medium to high heat add olive oil, onion, peppers and garlic. Sauté until onion is translucent and the peppers are half cooked then add can tomatoes salt, pepper and nutritional yeast stir together then add the washed and dried jackfruit. Turn to low and simmer for about 15 minutes. Then serve over cooked rice or even quinoa.
(In the traditional recipe with meat you would shake the meat in a flour mixture before cooking it but since this is jackfruit, I left that step out, but I did add the nutritional yeast in for vitamins, taste and a little thickening agent.)
