Vegan Jackfruit and Poblano Flautas with a Vegan Cashew Crema Mexicana

I have some exciting news, I’ll be one of the Keynote Speakers at the 30th Annual Student Conference on Latinx Affairs at Texas A&M University this April!

If you live in the area, and are interested in attending, click here.

I’ll be visiting Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio while I’m there. If you have any favorite food spots, please feel free to share your recommendations with me!

I was procrastinating over the weekend, trying to live my best life binging on the new season of “One Day at a Time”, until I convinced myself I needed to get up and be productive. I remembered I had a couple of cans of jackfruit from Trader Joe’s sitting in my pantry from a post that never came to fruition, so I started to think about what I could MacGyver with them and with what I had around, and flautas started to sound really good.

Some people use flour tortillas for their flautas, but I personally like to use corn because I prefer its crunch. When it comes to the filling, you can pretty much get away with stuffing them with just about anything. I didn’t have any portobellos hanging in the fridge, but those would also be a good substitute for jackfruit and would give the filling even more fajita vibes.

I was a bit skeptical about how the vegan crema would taste, but it actually turned out pretty delicious, there’s a whole lot of flavor in there and it tastes even better after it has chilled in the fridge for one or two hours.

If you need something to binge this weekend, One Day at a Time is worth the watch, and the new Queer Eye on Netflix is also pretty great. It’s nice to see the guys take the time to unpack stigmas like what it means to be femme and queer, or even talk about what it is like to be Black in today’s America, and of course if you need something to eat while you’re binging away, give these flautas a try.

Have a great Valentine’s Day!

Salsa de Tomate:

(Makes about 3 cups)

4 big ripe (or canned) roma tomatoes

1/4 white onion

5 garlic cloves

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon vegetable bouillon

1 teaspoon salt

2/3 cups of cooking liquid

Start by bringing 4 cups of water to a boil. Once the water starts boiling, add the tomatoes and onion and simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes or until the tomatoes are soft. ** It is important that you use ripe tomatoes or it will be bland, swap for canned tomatoes if they’re not in season. Once the tomatoes are soft transfer  2/3 cup of the cooking liquid, the tomatoes and onion to a blender. Add black pepper, vegetable bouillon, salt, and garlic cloves and blend until smooth. Cook the salsa in a small saucepan for 10 minutes and set aside.

Vegan Cashew Crema Mexicana

(Makes about 1 cup)

1 cup cashews

1 cup water

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

1 lime, juiced

1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar

1/8 tsp corn starch

Start by placing your cashews in a large bowl, and completely submerge them in hot water. Let them soak for about two hours.

Once the cashews have soaked for two hours, transfer the cashews to a blender along with 1 cup of the soaking liquid. Mix in the salt, garlic powder, onion powder, apple cider vinegar, juice from one lime and the corn starch. Blend until smooth.

Pour your crema into a bowl and refrigerate for about two hours before serving. Taste for salt after it has chilled.

Vegan Jackfruit and Poblano Flautas

(Makes about 20 flautas)

4 tbsp vegetable oil, divided

2 poblano peppers, julienned

1 1/2 yellow onion, julienned

20 oz jackfruit, chopped

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp cracked black pepper

5 garlic cloves, minced

20 corn tortillas

Garnish:

Shredded lettuce

Salsa de tomate

Vegan Cashew Crema Mexicana

Radish, sliced

Avocado, sliced

Vegan Cotija Cheese

In a medium sized frying pan on medium-ow heat, heat up 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil. Once the oil starts to sizzle, add the julienned poblano to the frying pan and the yellow onion. Cook for about 4 minutes until the pepper starts to blister, then add in the jackfruit. Cook for another 5 minutes until the onion becomes translucent and the jackfruit begins to crisp up. Sprinkle in the salt, cumin, black pepper, and minced garlic. Cook for another 2 minutes and then transfer your mixture to a bowl.

In a medium sized frying pan on medium-ow heat, heat up 3 tbsp of vegetable oil. Working in batches of 4-5, warm up your tortillas in the microwave (about 10 second on each side). **If your tortilla is cold, it will rip when you go to roll it. Add in a spoonful of your poblano/jackfruit mixture to your tortilla, then roll it up. Place your flautas seam down in your frying pan and fry for about 2-3 minutes until the seam is crispy and golden brown. Cook about 2 minutes on each side, then transfer to a plate lined with paper towels to drain.

To assemble, plate your flautas and top with a bed of shredded lettuce. Generously drizzle on the salsa de tomate and vegan cashew crema and top with radish and avocado. Sprinkle vegan queso cotija on top.