Among the Minangese (West Sumatrans), jackfruit is called cubadak and other Indonesians call this fruit nangka.  The unripe or green jackfruit is mostly cooked for veggie dishes while the ripe one (with yellow part inside) is used for desserts.  Gulai cubadak or nangka is found at any Padang restaurant in the country.  It’s a typical one dish meal in Indonesia.  For this recipe, I used shrimp. Please make sure to check the Cook’s Note for those who want to make the broth from beef.

Serves 6

Ingredients:

500 g frozen/canned green jackfruit, thawed/drained and cut into smaller pieces

12 stalks long beans, cut into 3 cm length

150 g white cabbage, roughly cut

150 g peeled and deveined shrimps (most recipes call for beef such as flanks, skirts, beef marrows, ribs)

1250 ml thin coconut milk

500 ml thick coconut milk

1 turmeric leaf (optional)

1 lemongrass, take the white part and bruise

4 kaffir lime leaves

2 asam kandis (I used kokkam or gorakha, can be found at Indian/Caribbean markets)

Spices to be ground:

8 shallots (I used 4 bigger size shallots)

6 garlic

1/4 cup dried shrimp (ebi)

5 red cayenne peppers (you can add more)

3 cm long turmeric, toasted and peeled

3 cm long ginger, scrapped

3 cm galangal, peeled

seasalt to season

Methods:

1. Cook jackfruit in boiling water about 15 minutes or tender. Drain.

2. In a dutch oven, add thin coconut, ground spices, kaffir lime leaves turmeric leaf, and asam kandis. Bring to a boil.

3. Add cooked jackfruit and let for another boil.

4. Add shrimp, long beans, cabbage and thick coconut milk. Cook for another boil and all veggies are done. Remove from heat.

5. Serving sugestion: In a bowl, cut lontong into bite size, ladle jackfruit curry over, add some beef rendang and crackers.

Cook’s Note:

If you are allergy to shellfish, you can omit the shrimps and substitute for beef. Make the beef broth first by boiling flank/marrow/rib in water. You may use the beef up to 500 g to get stronger beef taste and reduce the amount of thin coconut in the recipe.