Young Jackfruit is a brilliant meat alternative. The texture is perfect for dishes like this Jackfruit Biryani. From pulled jackfruit to Biryani, jackfruit is so versatile in vegetarian cooking.

I bought a can of young jackfruit and made some Biryani using Dishoom’s recipe. I tweaked it and it was delicious. Even my meat eating husband was impressed with the taste and texture.

What is Young Jackfruit

Young jackfruit is harvested before the Jackfruit turns sweet and ripe. It is used in many vegan and vegetarian dishes. On its own young jackfruit does not have much flavour. In fact it is bland which is what makes it a great ingredient for many dishes.

Young jackfruit absorbs spices and seasonings quickly due to its stringy texture. Many use it as a vegan alternative for pulled pork dishes and I have used it for a biryani.

You can get young jackfruit in the world supermarket aisles. If not amazon stock it too (affiliate link). On its own there is not a lot of taste to young jackfruit. It has a fibrous texture giving it the cooked “shredded chicken” resemblance.

How to make Jackfruit Biryani

You can watch my video on how I made the Jackfruit Biryani here.

The main ingredients for Jackfruit Biryani are rice, young jackfruit, potatoes, tomatoes, onions and coriander. You then need spices like garam masala and red chilli powder and minced garlic, ginger and green chillies.

• Marinate your drained young jackfruit in garlic, ginger, chilli powder and salt.
• Wash and soak your rice at the same time. Soak for at least 30 minutes in warm water then drain and boil your rice with some salt and lime juice. Once cooked, set aside.
• Peel and cube your potatoes and boil in salted water. Once cooked drain them.
• Prepare your marinade for the fried vegetables. This is made by combining yoghurt, ginger, garlic, green chillies, lime juice and garam masala.
• Bloom your saffron by adding a couple of ice cubes to some saffron. Melt your butter too.
• Slice your cherry tomatoes, slice your red onion and chop your coriander.
• Shallow fry your jackfruit for around 10 minutes. Get a plate with some kitchen towel ready. Using a slotted spoon, take your jackfruit and place on your lined plate.
• In the same oil, fry your potatoes until they are coated. Place this on the same plate as the cooked jackfruit. Now fry your tomatoes until slightly charred and place in the same plate.
• Place your cooked jackfruit, potatoes and tomatoes in the yoghurt marinade and combine. Leave this to one side.
• Fry your onions in the same pan you used to fry the other vegetables. You may need to add in more oil. You want crispy golden brown onions. Take them out with a slotted spoon and place in another plate with kitchen towel.
• In the same pan, leave about 1 tbsp oil and cook off the yoghurt marinated vegetables so the yoghurt, ginger and garlic infuse into the ingredients and combine well.

How to layer biryani

Once all your elements of the biryani are ready you can layer it.

For the jackfruit biryani your layers are:

• Jackfruit mixture
• Cooked lime rice
• Garam Masala
• Fried Onions
• Bloomed Saffron
• Melted Butter
• Chopped Coriander

In your over safe dish, place half your jackfruit mixture. Then follow this with half your rice. Sprinkle about 1/4 tsp garam masala on top, then drizzle half your melted butter and saffron water. Sprinkle some fried onions and chopped coriander.

Now repeat the same for the next layer. Cover the biryani in foil and bake for 30-40 minutes, until biryani is piping hot.

What to serve with Biryani

Biryani is best enjoyed with some Raita. This is also known as cucumber yoghurt.

Start by grating some cucumber. Sprinkle this with some salt and let the water release.

In a bowl add in some greek yoghurt, ground pepper, ground cumin and salt.

Squeeze all the water out of the cucumber and add it to the yogurt. Mix and enjoy.

How to store Jackfruit Biryani

You can make biryani a day before you are serving it. Cover the biryani once you have layered it with foil and place in the fridge. On the day of serving, take it out of the fridge half and hour before then bake in the oven (covered). It may need an hour.

Once the biryani is cooked, you can keep the left overs in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 3 days.

To reheat it, place it in a pan and sprinkle some hot water. Cover the pan and let this cook until it is steaming hot.

Print Recipe SaveSaved!

Jackfruit Biryani

A flavour packed vegetarian biryani made with scrumptious layers of marinated young jackfruit, potatoes and lime infused rice. An authentic vegetarian Indian biryani recipe.

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Marination30 minutes mins

Total Time2 hours hrs

Course: dinner party recipe, dinner recipes, Main Course

Cuisine: Indian

Keyword: authentic indian recipes, biryani recipes, indian rice, jackfruit, Jackfruit recipe, Vegetarian Biryani Recipe, vegetarian indian recipes, young jackfruit

Servings: 4 people

Ingredients

• 150 g rice
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1 tin 200-250g drained weight canned jackfruit in brine
• 2 tsp garlic paste
• 2 tsp ginger paste
• 1/4 tsp tumeric
• 1/2 tsp chilli powder
• 2 potatoes medium sized and cut into cubes
• 4 tbsps crispy fried onion I used the premade one
• 2 green chillies
• 75 ml yoghurt
• Handful cherry tomatoes
• 2 tsps garam masala 1 tsp for layering
• 1 medium sliced red onion thin rings if possible, for layering
• handful of chopped coriander half for layering
• 1 pinch saffron mixed with 3 tbls of water for layering
• oil for cooking
• 2 tbls melted butter for layering
• salt to taste

Instructions

• Wash rice in warm water to remove excess starch then leave to soak in water for about 40 mins. Once soaked, rinse again and then boil the rice with 1/2 juice of lime and 1 tsp salt. You want to boil it until it is just about cooked. Drain off the excess water.
• Pat dry the tinned jackfruit and cut into bite-size chunks. Marinate for 30 minutes with 1 tsp garlic paste, 1 tsp ginger paste, 1/2 tsp chilli powder and 1/2 tsp salt.
• Peel then cut the potatoes into cubes & boil in salted water. Once cooked, drain and set aside.
• Heat oil in a pan. You want just a bit more than what you would have for shallow frying. Fry the jackfruit for about 10 minutes on medium heat. Place on a plate with a kitchen towel to drain off excess oil.
• In the same pan fry the potatoes until slightly crispy then lightly fry the tomatoes
• Finally, fry the sliced onions until crispy and set aside. These are to top the biryani.
• In a bowl combine the yoghurt, 1 tsp garam masala, 1 tsp garlic paste, 1 tsp ginger paste, half the chopped coriander, 1/2 juice of lime and sliced green chillies. Mix this into the crispy fried onions (4tbls), jackfruit, tomatoes and potatoes. Add a bit of salt to taste.
• In the same pan, you fried the ingredients, leave about 2 tbls of oil in the pan and on medium heat cook the above mixture for 5 minutes. This is just to cook the yoghurt and combine all the flavours. It will not look totally appetising but that is because you are cooking yoghurt.
• Heat the oven at 180 degrees. Now start layering (my favourite part)
• In an ovenproof deep dish, add the jackfruit mixture
• Layer it with the cooked rice and sprinkle 1 tsp garam masala on top of the rice, then saffron water, melted butter , sliced fried onions and chopped coriander
• Lastly sprinkle some water on the biryani, cover it with foil and bake for 30 minutes

The biryani is really moist and is a great dish to have at a dinner party. Filling and flavoursome. I would serve it with a spiced greek yoghurt and some salad. For the yoghurt, add some chilli powder, cumin powder and salt.

If you cannot find jackfruit, use another meat alternatives. Alternatively if you fancy a meat version, swap the jackfruit for chicken.

The base of the recipe is very versatile and one that my family always use.

When it comes to the oven dish, I like to use my Le Creuset ones. it keeps the dish warmer for longer too.

If you are vegetarian and want more protein vegetarian recipes try this Masoor Dal.

Neha