Terra Vegana: Vegan Salpicão: the recipe that appeals to everyone but my father

When I was not yet a vegan, I bought a jackfruit drum and gave it to my father, without saying anything about the filling. We were at a Buddhist center, and both the cafe and the restaurant served exclusively vegetable meals. I took the ten-reais bill out of my pocket, asked for two coxinhas and two orange juices.

I wanted to see the reaction of that man who loves chicken, and I was already prepared for the expressive reflexes so typical of the Polish part of my family (they look like Italians, they are Polish). The man ate without saying anything.

At the end, he asked only why I bought juice and not light coke, which unfortunately watered my entire adolescence. “There was no soda,” I said. I went to give the change back, and he asked me to buy more, “it’s very good, Tuca, get two more coxinhas”.

I could not resist. “They’re not chicken, Dad. They’re jackfruit.” He took the change and stuffed it in his pocket, cursing anything unintelligible. He got into the car without eating the second coxinha.

We never mentioned it again, until Christmas 2019, when I suggested that the salpicão be made with jackfruit instead of chicken, for the whole family. No agreement. If I wanted to make the vegan sausage, great, let me make it and let people eat “whatever they like to eat”. I tried to explain that it wasn’t about imposing anything, but about proposing a symbolic dish that would include the whole family in the supper.

When I heard as a final argument that “jaca is fruit, chicken is chicken”, I rescued the episode of the coxinha from the Buddhist center. Silence, broken long seconds later by the confession that that coxinha was, in fact, hot. But the memory could not make him give up the poor chicken with potatoes, corn, apples, raisins and mayonnaise that Christmas.

The mayonnaise was the same for both versions of salpicão, because my father strangely assumed that it was very close to “real mayonnaise”. What’s really true is that the vegan sausage pleased everyone but my dad simply because he didn’t try it—perhaps out of fear of liking it.

The green jackfruit has a texture very similar to that of shredded chicken and, when well seasoned, is a great replacement in vegan recipes. It can be bought ready to use, frozen or canned, or prepared from the fruit, which cannot be ripe. Roast the jackfruit, wrapped in aluminum, until it softens, and then peels and removes the pulp. It can be baked, too, but this method releases a lot of “glue”—the sap of the fruit—and isn’t as practical as baking.

Are we going to have a vegan sausage for supper this Christmas, for the whole family, including my father? Jaca is fruit, chicken is animal, and we can celebrate life with life instead of death. None of this will convince my father, I’ll have to ask my brother to prepare the sausage and not say anything. It will be difficult for me to remain silent.

Vegan splash

INGREDIENTS

1 cup of diced potatoes.

½ cup apple chopped.

½ cup of cooked corn.

1 cup of shredded green jackfruit.

1 cup of grated carrots.

¼ cup of white raisin.

½ cup vegan mayonnaise (see recipe below).

1 tablespoon of dijon mustard.

1 tablespoon of oil.

½ lemon.

¼ cup of chopped celery stalk.

2 tablespoons of chopped parsley.

1 clove of garlic, chopped into cubes.

2 bay leaves.

1 teaspoon of salt.

½ teaspoon of smoked paprika.

PREPARATION

1. Squeeze lemon into apple and mix to envelop all chopsticks. Reserve.
2. Cook the potatoes in water with a little salt for ten minutes, or until they are tender. Reserve in the fridge.
3. Saute the garlic in oil until it starts to brown. Add the shredded green jackfruit, bay leaves, paprika and half the amount of salt. Saute for five minutes, remove the bay leaves, transfer to a container and refrigerate.
4. In a bowl, add the cooked corn, grated carrots, white raisins, mayonnaise, mustard, celery and parsley. Take the potatoes and jackfruit from the fridge and add to the same bowl. Mix well for the mayonnaise and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Mayonnaise

INGREDIENTS

⅓ cup of unsweetened vegetable milk.

1 cup of sunflower oil.

½ teaspoon of salt.

1 teaspoon of rice vinegar, or white wine vinegar.

½ clove of garlic.

PREPARATION

1. Cut the garlic into small pieces and transfer to the mixer cup or blender. Add soy milk, salt and beat. Add the sunflower oil in a thread, little by little, to emulsify.
2. Finally, add the vinegar and push for a few more seconds, just to incorporate.