jackfruit laksa

Drain and rinse the jackfruit from the can in a fine mesh sieve. Squeeze jackfruit of excess water and pat dry with a clean tea towel. Trim any woody tough core from the pieces of the jackfruit if necessary, then break it up into a bowl with your hands until it looks shredded.

Heat a stock pot or large dutch oven over medium heat with vegetable oil. Add sliced onions and sauté for 8 to 9 minutes until they start to get slightly brown and caramelized. In this version I caramelized the onions until they were a light caramel color, which I don't normally do in the taco recipe, but I liked this better.

Add garlic and jackfruit and continue to sauté for 4 to 5 minutes, browning the jackfruit and breaking up more as necessary. Reduce heat to prevent garlic from burning, if needed. Add salt, chili powder, cumin, sage, and worcestershire and cook for about another 3 to 4 minutes. Once this looks cooked down and browned up remove it from pot into a dish and set it aside while you finish the soup.

Keep the stock pot or dutch oven over medium to medium-low heat – adjust so that it's hot but won't burn the spices. Add 2 more tablespoons oil and ground cumin, turmeric, coriander, garam masala, and chili flakes. Stir with a wooden spoon to combine into the oil and toast the spices for about 2 minutes. If the pot starts to smoke turn the heat down.

Add garlic, ginger, celery, carrot, mushrooms, and tomatoes at this stage. Also if you're using other harder veggies like bell pepper add them at this point as well. Cook for about 3 to 4 minutes stirring occasionally. If the pan starts to get a little dry you can add a bit of vegetable stock to this to help lift any brown stuck bits on the bottom of the pot.

Stir in pumpkin puree, vegetable stock, and coconut milk and bring to a low simmer. Once bubbling turn the heat down so it's not boiling or bubbling.

Meanwhile fill a large pot with salted water and bring to a boil to cook rice noodles as directed, until al dente. Drain and rinse noodles, if needed. Set them aside until you're ready to serve.

Once the soup has come to a simmer and you've reduced the heat so it's not bubbling, you can now add kale, lime juice, tamari or soy sauce and sea salt, to taste, last. You can add jackfruit back in just before serving if it's still warm, or add it in with the kale to get it warmed through. If using something like tofu or tempeh you might want to add it in just at serving so it doesn't get too soggy, but it's your preference.

Add a portion of cooked rice noodles to a serving bowl, ladle the laksa over top and garnish with cilantro and chiu chow chili oil or another hot sauce to your taste.