Green Jackfruit Curry (Gulai Nangka - Cubadak)

The local people, meaning at West Sumatera called this Jackfruit as Cubadak, when other Indonesian call it Nangka. The unripe or green jackfruit is mostly cooked for veggie dishes while the ripe one (the yellow part inside) is used for desserts.

Gulai Nangka or Gulai cubadak is common to be sold at any padang restaurants in the country along with beef rendang, egg balado, red crackers and cassava balado crackers. It is served to complete lontong sayur padang. A typical of one dish meal in Indonesia.

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

Directions:

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.

Notes:

1. If you are allergy to shellfish, you can omit the shrimps and substitute for beef.
2. 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.