Vegan Jackfruit “Tu-not” Melt

 Why not tu-not?

A good friend of mine (and celebrity chef to the stars) shared his most amazing jackfruit tuna recipe with me last week. I’ve been obsessed with using jackfruit as a meat substitute ever since I ate jackfruit carnitas made by Jared Leto’s private chef during a web-only concert where I performed with 30 Seconds to Mars. Sorry but not sorry for all the name dropping. I was definitely star struck when my middle school crush Jared Leto answered to door to their Studio City band house, and even more in love when I found out he was vegan and his private chef made an elaborate smorgasbord of vegan grub. Anyway, on to the jackfruit. This stuff is an amazing substitute for meat and soy meat products. What you’ll need to make these awesome little melts:

• 2 large cans of jackfruit
• Celery
• Relish
• Veganaise
• Nori (1-2 Tablespoons of finely ground nori)
• Tomatoes and Cucumbers (optional)

Boil and drain the jackfruit. Let it cool to room temperature and make sure that you can easily break apart the core.

Over a large bowl, separate the seeds from the rest of the meat. The seeds are totally edible but doesn’t really suit the texture of creating fake tuna.

To grind the nori, first dry it out over a flame on the stove, then finely grind it in a food processor.

Finely chop the celery. Add as much or as little as you like. Add a couple spoonfuls of relish and large spoonfuls of veganaise to cover all of the ingredients.

Mix in the nori flakes. This is what gives the jackfruit a “fishy” taste.

Scoop onto little pitas or your bread of choice. Melt some soy cheese and garnish with cucumber or tomatoes.

Enjoy!