Ti-jacques is Creole for 'petit jacque' — young, still-green jackfruit, the stage Réunion cooks prefer. The tree (Artocarpus heterophyllus, fig family) is native to India and Bangladesh and was brought by Hindu Tamil indentured laborers, who used unripe jackfruit as a meat substitute; it is the island's main vegetarian centerpiece. More everyday, though, is ti-jacques boucané, cooked with smoked pork — the strictly vegetarian version is the Tamil one.
Spoon up carry ti-jacques over rice — jackfruit tender, fibrous, meat-mimicking. Orange-red sauce coats every shred. Massalé spice warmth, jackfruit's mild sweetness, tomato brightness, thyme aromatic, kaffir lime floral, chili slow burn. Vegetarian but substantial.
Unripe jackfruit is high in starch and very low in sugar, its flesh built from bundles of fibers; long cooking softens the starch and loosens the fibers into a meaty, shred-like texture that soaks up sauce. The whole tree carries sticky latex, so the green fruit gums up knife and hands — cooks oil hands, blade and board before cutting. Browning the flesh adds Maillard depth.
Variations
Add shrimp for non-vegetarian. Spicier doubles chili. Diaspora uses canned young jackfruit.
On the Palate
Where Carry Ti-Jacques sits in the Reunionese flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
11 steps · 35 min active + 55 min waiting
- 112 min
Drain 800 g canned young jackfruit; squeeze; pull into shreds.
- 27 min
Heat 3 tbsp oil. Cook 2 chopped onions 6 min.
- 33 min
Add 5 garlic + 2 tbsp ginger + 4 thyme + 1 bird's eye chili. Cook 2 min.
- 43 min
Add 3 tbsp massalé + 1 tsp turmeric. Toast 90 sec.
Watch outToast the massalé just until it smells fragrant and darkens a shade — a minute or so wakes up the spice, but push it and it turns bitter.
- 57 min
Add 3 diced tomatoes + 1 tbsp tomato paste. Cook 6 min.
- 66 min
Add jackfruit; toss. Brown some 5 min.
Watch outLet the shredded jackfruit sit and pick up some brown color before the liquid goes in — that sear adds the meaty, savory depth.
- 75 min
Add 300 ml water + 4 kaffir lime leaves + 1 bay leaf + 1.5 tsp salt.
- 831 min
Cover; simmer 30 min.
- 911 min
Uncover; reduce 10 min.
Watch outUncover and let it reduce until the sauce clings to the jackfruit — watery curry means it hasn't cooked down enough.
- 102 min
Stir in 3 tbsp cilantro.
- 114 min
Serve on Réunion plate with rice, rougail, lentilles, brèdes.
