Cari Ti Jak

Réunion young jackfruit curry: ti jak braised with smoked pork, onion, garlic, ginger, turmeric, thyme, and tomato until the fruit softens and takes up the smoke

Origin: Réunion

From the journey of Jackfruit.

Ti jak, the little jackfruit, is the young fruit picked long before it ripens, and cari ti jak is one of the classic caris of Réunion's Creole kitchen: the fruit peeled, cut, and boiled, then braised with boucané, pork belly smoked over wood, in a base of onion, garlic, ginger, and turmeric, which the island calls safran, with tomato and thyme. The fruit softens and takes up the smoke of the pork, and the cari is served, like every cari on the island, with white rice, grains (beans or lentils), and a sharp rougail. The same fruit is cooked with smoked duck, with sausages, or with prawns, and pickled as achard ti jak. How the jackfruit reached the island is not recorded in anything consulted for this entry. A list of introduction dates compiled from Cirad's Grand livre des fruits tropicaux gives 1780; other accounts credit the indentured labourers who came from India after 1848. Either way it came from India, and most probably on the ships of the French Company of the Indies, which called at the island on their voyages to and from Pondicherry and Mahé, the French post on the Malabar coast. The tree has made itself at home, and it grows in great numbers in the humid lowland forests of the south-east.

Ingredients

Ti Jak

1 young jackfruit (ti jak), about 1.5 kg, or 1 kg prepared pieces
1 tbsp salt, for the soaking and boiling water

Cari

500 g boucané (smoked pork belly), cut into 3 cm pieces
3 tbsp vegetable oil
2 onions, sliced
5 garlic cloves
3 cm ginger, peeled
1 tsp ground turmeric (safran)
3 ripe tomatoes, chopped
3 sprigs thyme
1 bird's eye chilli (piment), or to taste
400 ml water
0.25 tsp ground black pepper

Method

Oil your hands, the knife, and the board. Quarter the ti jak, cut away the skin and the central core, and cut the flesh into 3 cm pieces, dropping them into salted water as you go.
Boil the pieces in fresh salted water for 15 minutes and drain.
Boil the boucané for 10 minutes to take out some of its salt, and drain.
Pound the garlic, ginger, and chilli with a pinch of salt in a mortar to a rough paste.
Heat the oil in a heavy pot and brown the boucané for 5 to 8 minutes. Add the onions and cook until golden, then the pounded paste and the turmeric, and fry for a minute.
Add the tomatoes and thyme and cook for about 5 minutes, until they have collapsed into a sauce.
Add the jackfruit, stir it through, and pour in the water. Cover and simmer for 40 to 45 minutes, stirring now and then, until the jackfruit is soft and the sauce has reduced and clings to it.
Season with pepper, and salt if needed, and serve with white rice, grains, and rougail.

Notes

Tinned young jackfruit can be used: skip the first boil and simmer for 25 minutes. Smoked bacon can stand in for boucané, though it is saltier and less smoky; smoked duck is the other classic partner.

The Gastrographer

Name: Cari Ti Jak
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 1 h 15 min
Total time: 1 h 55 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Réunion
Ingredients: 1 young jackfruit (ti jak), about 1.5 kg, or 1 kg prepared pieces; 1 tbsp salt, for the soaking and boiling water; 500 g boucané (smoked pork belly), cut into 3 cm pieces; 3 tbsp vegetable oil; 2 onions, sliced; 5 garlic cloves; 3 cm ginger, peeled; 1 tsp ground turmeric (safran); 3 ripe tomatoes, chopped; 3 sprigs thyme; 1 bird's eye chilli (piment), or to taste; 400 ml water; 0.25 tsp ground black pepper

Mapping Culinary History

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control