This central Vietnamese young jackfruit salad is nutty with salt and sweetness in balance, and it is made for scooping up with grilled rice paper. The pleasure is in jackfruit strands that still have chew. The trick is dressing it enough without breaking them down.
The prawns are dry roasted with a little salt rather than boiled, which keeps them firm and much more fragrant. The dressing goes on in two pours, the jackfruit first and the shrimp and pork after. The pork belly is cooled in a bowl of cooking water before slicing.
This batch weighs about 678g, at roughly 179 calories per 100g.
Method
Blanch 300g boiled young jackfruit in boiling water, drain, then cut it into small bite sized pieces.
Wash the herbs and drain them. Rinse 150g pork belly and 150g black tiger prawns and drain.
Dry roast the prawns with a little salt in a pan until they turn red. Peel them, remove the veins and leave the tails on for looks.
Boil the pork belly with 1/2 teaspoon salt. When it is cooked, transfer it to a bowl of the cooking water to cool a little, then slice it thinly.
Mix the dressing: warm 1 tablespoon good quality fish sauce with 3 tablespoons kOBE Monk Fruit Blend until dissolved, cool, then stir in 1 tablespoon lime juice.
Put the jackfruit in a bowl, pour over half the dressing and toss to coat. Add the prawns and pork belly, pour over the rest of the dressing and toss again. Scatter with chopped herbs and roasted peanuts and serve with grilled rice paper.
Tips
Dry roasting rather than boiling leaves the prawns firmer and far more fragrant.
Two pours of dressing work better than one, letting the jackfruit take on flavor before the shrimp and pork go in.
Blanched jackfruit needs to drain thoroughly, as any water left behind dilutes the dressing.
Herbs and peanuts scattered right before eating keep their crunch.
A stir of the dressing right before it goes on matters, because kOBE Monk Fruit Blend settles at the bottom.
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The recipe above is sweetened with kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, measured 1:1 like sugar. See the product page or send us a message.