Rare and Delicious: The Exquisite and Elusive Fruits of Yesteryear

tháng 1 16, 2024

In the old countryside areas, the jackfruit is not unfamiliar but nowadays not many people know about this fruit. The jackfruit tree belongs to the wood trunk variety, scientifically known as Artocarpus tonkinensis. The tree is often found in the Northeastern provinces.

In the past, people used to plant jackfruit trees to eat the roots along with other plants. But now there are few people who eat betel leaves, so this tree has been cut down almost completely, and there are very few places where it is still grown.

When it is still green, the jackfruit has a sour taste, and when it is ripe, it has a sour and sweet taste, but the flavor is not very appealing, so few people like it.

Ripe jackfruit can be eaten fresh or used to make delicious dishes such as sour soup or stewed fish with jackfruit. The dishes made from jackfruit have a sour taste that helps the body cool down in the summer and brings back the simple flavors of the homeland.

Scientific research shows that jackfruit is an ingredient in many traditional Vietnamese medicine recipes. It has a sour taste, neutral properties, and is used to treat coughs caused by heat in the lungs, coughing up blood, sore throat, vomiting blood, bleeding gums, or cases of low stomach acid.

Jackfruit also contains many important compounds that support digestion, stimulate appetite, and aid in bowel movements.

Therefore, jackfruit is not just a nutritious food but also very good for the digestive system. You can stew fish with jackfruit using the following recipe to create a delicious and nutritious dish.

Ingredients

– Cleaned and gutted fish: 1.5kg

– Lemongrass: 6-7 stalks

– Aged ginger

– Dried shallots: 5 bulbs

– Soy sauce

– Fish sauce: 10 teaspoons

– Boiling water

– Vinegar (lime), sea salt

– Chili peppers: 3-5 fruits

– Large jackfruit: 5 fruits

– Pork belly: 500g

Instructions

– Wash the fish and soak it in water with vinegar or lime and sea salt to remove the fishy smell. Pat the fish dry with paper towels or let it drain.

– Marinate the fish with 1 teaspoon of sea salt for 1-2 hours to firm up the fish.

– Slice the pork belly into thick pieces as the meat will shrink during the long stewing process.

– Rinse the jackfruit thoroughly and slice it.

– Crush the lemongrass, cut the ginger into slices, and grind a portion of the ginger into a paste. Slice the dried shallots.

– Heat oil in a pan and sauté the ginger, shallots, and lemongrass until fragrant.

– Add this mixture to the bottom of the pot.

– Layer the ingredients in the pot: Sliced jackfruit, pork belly, fish, pork belly, sliced jackfruit, ground ginger, chili peppers.

– Add soy sauce and fish sauce, drizzling it over the entire surface of the pot. Finally, pour boiling water (100 degrees) over the layers in the pot.

– Stew the fish for about 2 hours. At first, use high heat to quickly bring the fish to a boil and evenly distribute the spices. After 30 minutes of boiling, reduce the heat to low to allow the fish to absorb the flavors and become more flavorful. When the pot of fish is almost dry, the desired result is achieved.

– Let the fish cool before transferring it to a plate to avoid breaking the fish. The stewed fish with jackfruit is very flavorful and goes well with rice.