crispy chicken-style jackfruit sushi

I've always loved sushi, but I've grown tired of the vegan go-to of cucumber and avocado, or vegetable and tofu, and I wanted something more. If this were MasterChef, I'd say I needed to balance out the flavours and textures and give it that crunch. But it's not MasterChef, and really I just wanted crispy fried chicken nori rolls. So I made them.
I used Zacchary Bird's CFC (Cruelty Free Chicken) recipe as a base for these strips, and let me tell you that kid is a damn genius. I love jackfruit and am always singing its praises, but what Zac has done to it is truly incredible (seriously, people have started calling it zacfruit!). His CFC drumsticks, which use cauliflower stems as the "bone", have been on my list of things to make for a while, and as I had most of the stuff I needed to make it I thought I'd give it a go, at least in part. His CFC seemed like the perfect thing to adapt to fit my needs and to satisfy my crispy sushi craving.
With so many singing his praises all over the internet I shouldn't have been so sceptical, but when I started to make it I just couldn't see how this would come together. It's not that I doubted him as such, I just doubted my own ability to make it work. I shouldn't have though, because they came out really well.
This post isn't really going to be a recipe as such, because most of it is using other people's recipes, but I'll talk you through the basics of what I did, link you to those people's blogs, and post a few pretty pictures.

mmmmmmmohmygodddd

at this stage it already looks eerily like shredded chicken yikes

So, in the morning I made Zac's CFC filling, and instead of shaping it onto cauliflower, I formed strips on cling wrap and rolled them up as shown in the picture to the right. I twisted them in the middle like sausages, and then twisted the ends to seal them off. Once all the mixture was used up, I put the rolls in the freezer for an hour to firm up. Zac's recipe makes ten of these strips, and I only cooked eight so I could have some spare for just in case. But the eight of them made three big nori rolls that I cut up, and a few rice paper rolls because my partner doesn't like sushi.
For the breading, I deviated from Zac's recipe a bit. I still used the Aquafaba to bind the flour to the strips, but instead of making Zac's spice mix I just used a tablespoon of a vegan chicken salt and added that to the flour, because I'm lazy and short on spices. My coating method was Aquafaba, flour mixture, Aquafaba, panko bread crumbs. Then shallow fry in sunflower oil, turning once.

one CFC strip, sliced lengthwise 

I sliced the CFC strips longways down the middle, and used both halves per roll, to keep all fillings uniform and to have enough for the nori and the rice paper, but next time I think I'll just chuck two full strips on each roll and make it a party.
I also made a carrot lox from this flaming vegan recipe, which added a more interesting element to what I usually go with, and slices of cucumber and avocado. You can add whatever you want to in your own rolls, I'm not your parent (too young) or your boss (too much responsibility). Do what makes you happy.
I one hundred percent urge you to try Zac's CFC chicken at least once if you can. I'm even more excited now to try making it properly, but now I know it works in sushi, I might try it with everything (currently thinking of how to make it work in my vegan pastel de choclo!). Anyway, that's enough outta me. I'm very tired.

xoxo, Gossip Jase



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