Our collection of vegan recipes with jackfruit is growing every day. And while we’ve used this fruit as a substitute for chicken or beef, we hadn’t tried it in place of fish or seafood. So, after much experimentation, we added a fantastic new recipe to our repertoire: plant-based crab cakes with jackfruit. Yummy!
Our recipe is inspired by classic American crab cakes, popular in Maryland and Virginia. We kept some of the traditional ingredients like Dijon mustard, parsley, celery and spices. Then we made a few changes so our recipe is both vegan and gluten free. how did we do it Read on to find out more!
First we had to find a good substitute for crab meat. While we used mashed beans in our previous vegan fish cakes, here we wanted to achieve the same look and feel as crab meat. That means flaky and soft, but still meaty and chewy. And jackfruit is just perfect for that!
Young immature jackfruit is fleshy and fibrous and can be easily pulled into strips that look quite similar to crab meat. You can find green jackfruit in water or brine at your local Asian grocery store or well-stocked supermarket. Just drain, rinse and start pulling the filaments. Oh and a trick To remove the brine’s bitter aftertaste, mix it with acid-neutralizing baking soda.
For the other ingredients, we left out the classic mayo and replaced the Worcestershire sauce with gluten-free soy sauce. Then we used a mixture of rice flour and starch to bind the cake batter and give it structure like eggs and breadcrumbs would. And to bring back the taste of the sea, we added some nori flakes.
You can shape the mixture into large patties or cute bite-sized cakes that are perfect as a fancy appetizer. Then a short round in the oven and your jackfruit crab cakes are ready. Serve them with lemon wedges on a bed of lettuce for an appetizer, or with fries and coleslaw for a main. And why not glaze with some vegan tartar sauce, mustard or hot sauce? Simply irresistible!