Fruit or Veg?

Officially fruit, but in practical terms this sukun (a.k.a. breadfruit) possesses the qualities of both fruit and vegetable, depending on when it's eaten.

We were gifted this specimen by a favorite vegetable seller at Kuala Lumpur's TTDI Sunday night market. She had just a few, all from her own tree. I didn't recognize it as a breadfruit because the specimens I'm used to seeing are oblong-ish and much, much larger, like a jackfruit. This baby wasn't even 6 inches in diameter.

In Malaysia breadfruit is usually eaten young (unripe), coated with flour and deep-fried. You'll often find crispy breadfruit slices sold alongside sweet potato and banana fritters. It tastes like, well, bread - all well and good I suppose, but not particularly interesting.

We took our baby breadfruit home and left it on the counter. When we got to it a couple days later - surprise surprise - it was soft. Cutting it open without squishing it and peeling its skin without also pulling off a good bit of flesh was a challenge. I tasted it raw and loved its texture - smooth, soft, and buttery, like an overripe avocado or the finest Malaysian durian - and wonderful banana-pineapple-with-a hint-of-citric-tartness flavor.

I dipped a couple slices in flour and fried them as our veg vendor had advised. The texture was pleasing enough, like a deep-fried plantain, but the breadfruit's specialness - that lovely tropical essence - had disappeared.

The next day I tried again with the leftovers. I figured if I undercooked the fruit I might be able to preserve its custard-like texture and subtle flavor. The fact that it was chilled through was a good start. I dropped a knob of butter into a saute pan and let it sizzle, then added a hefty shaving of gula Melaka and swirled it around in the pan to melt a bit (but not completely). I then slid in a few thick slices of  breadfruit, and left them in the bubbling butter just long enough to barely brown all sides.

Eureka! What I ended up with were slices of breadfruit bathed in golden butter and stuck here and there with smoky, caramel-like bits of gula Melaka. They were barely firm on the outside, warm but still pudding-like within, and tasted very much like, well, a deliciously fragrant tropical fruit rather than a piece of bread. A scoop of vanilla ice cream would have worked here. Think banana and pineapple flambe without the booze.

This experiment got me wondering why, in this land of durian made into ice cream and pastries, the same isn't done with breadfruit (or is it? Breadfruit is incorporated into sweets in Thailand, by the way.). Malaysians seem to love their breadfruit as a vegetable, but is anyone here eating it as a fruit?

Buttery Ripe Breadfruit with Palm Sugar

Thoroughly chilled soft, very ripe breadfruit

a big knob of butter (not margarine!), about 3-4 Tbsp.

about 1/2 Tbsp gula Melaka

1. Cut the breadfruit into slices about 1 inch/2cm thick.
2. Heat the butter in a (preferably non-stick) over medium-high heat till sizzling. Add the gula Melaka and stir or swirl the pan to melt it a bit.
3. Slide in the breadfruit and cook VERY briefly on each side. The fruit should remain soft.
4. Remove the breadfruit to a plate and pour butter and gula over it. Serve immediately.

Comments

[Simon Seow]

I didn't even know about this fruit in Malaysia. I'm so not Malaysian.

[mudzaffar]

Well we do have sukun prepared in other ways than fried. We have pengat sukun prepared quite similarly as what you have done, but being a pengat as you may know it is more a sweet porridge.Another version is more like caramel glazed swimming in gula melaka.

Here is website in english showing three ways it is eaten locally.

http://rinnchan.fotopages.com/?entry=1178257

nonetheless sukun is admittedly not so well known, probably because it is not so easily available. Captain Bligh probably forgot to make a pit stop here :>)

[Oniyon]

My grandma would fry them, and then glaze it with a sugar coating, like kuih keria. Very delicious

[Robyn]

Simon - if you've ever eaten the deep-fried stuff from those roadside stalls, chances are you've eaten breadfruit.

Mudzaffar - thanks for the link and the info. We still need to get to Cheras to hunt down those cucur badak you mentioned...

Oniyon - that sounds incredibly delicious. I love kuih keria.

[Noro]

Hello, love your blog.
About breadfruit, we eat them as veggie too in Madagascar ( thinly sliced and deep-fried or cooked with meat) but also as a snack when ripe. But be careful because, when fully ripe it contains a high level of alcohol and can be eaten only cooked ( I tried to eat a raw piece once and got drunk...)

[Edith Leigh]

You've got some very creative and yummy looking recipes. I'll have to try some of them soon. Thanks. Cheers, Edith.