South Carolina Jackfruit Barbecue Egg Rolls
Vegan jackfruit goes great with a classic South Carolina mustard barbecue sauce. Then roll it up in a n eggroll wrapper and fry it — now you've got some delicious fusion food going on.
Servings: 11 rolls
Ingredients
- 1 20 oz. can jackfruit in water or brine
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp chili powder
- ½ tsp salt (smoked if you have it)
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ¾ cup mustard based barbecue sauce divided
- 1 cup broccoli slaw or other coleslaw mix of choice)
- 11 egg roll wrappers
- ¼ cup water
- 1 cup peanut oil for frying
Instructions
- Drain the brine off of the jackfruit. Use your hands to separate the rind from the fruit. Set the shredded parts in a bowl, and the rinds and oval seeds somewhere else to discard.
- Mix the brown sugar, paprika, garlic powder, salt, and pepper together. Dump these spices into the jackfruit and use a fork to mix well. Use the fork the separate the fruit strands more if needed.
- Heat up a large pan with the 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat. Once the oil is shimmering, add the spiced jackfruit. Stir around in the pan, and let cook for 2-3 minutes, flipping a few times to ensure even cooking.
- Turn the heat to low, and stir in ½ cup of your mustard based barbecue sauce. Mix well and let cook for 20 minutes. Stir frequently to prevent sticking. Add water a teaspoonful at a time if needed to keep the fruit and sauce from drying out, but if this is happening your heat is too high. Keep it on low.
- Meanwhile, set up your egg rolling station. Put the slaw in an easily accessible bowl and put the ¼ cup water and the slaw out in front of you, the egg roll wrappers to your left, and a clean plate to your right. Put a clean cutting board in the middle of everything, closest to you.
- Once the barbecue is done, set it to the left of the egg roll wrappers. Put an egg roll wrapper on the cutting board, at an angle. The Nasoya egg roll wrappers come with great instructions, so I am skipping the detailed how to roll part here. Add a forkful of barbecue to the center of the wrapper, and then about a tablespoon and a half of slaw on top of that. Tuck and roll the wrapper starting with the bottom, then each side. Use a finger to swipe a bit of water across the top and roll up til its sealed. Set aside on the clean plate.
- Repeat until you run out of filling. I got 11 egg rolls out of this.
- Once the rolls are all assembled, get a smaller frying pan out and fill with the 1 cup of peanut oil. Depending on your pan size you may not need all of the oil, but the bottom of the pan should be generously covered.
- Heat over medium high heat, and when the oil is shimmering, use tongs to set an egg roll in the oil. Lightly swish the egg roll in the oil before releasing to keep the bottom from sticking. Repeat twice more, putting no more than 3 rolls in at a time. Each roll only needs 20-30 seconds per side so don't walk away.
- Use the tongs to turn the egg rolls once each side is a light golden brown. As the oil gets hotter, it takes less time, be vigilant. Burning occurs quickly.
- Set the fried rolls on a plate with a paper towel to sop up excess oil.
- Put the additional ¼ cup of barbecue sauce in a ramekin for dipping and eat the egg rolls while hot.