This was in my lovely swap parcel from Amey along with a green version. I’ve already got both achiote powder and annatto seeds so I must admit I put these in the cupboard without really looking at them. However, I had them on my list for a MoFo ingredient to use this month, when a strange coincidence happened. I generally love reading the Meet the Wikos blog but I had a stage a while ago when I had to stop reading, as they were focusing on making vegan versions of dishes featured in Masterchef Australia. It’s my favourite cookery programme but we only started getting this series here more recently and I didn’t want to see any spoilers. Anyway, I was casting round the internet for a way to use the achiote paste and found this recipe on their blog, printed it out, then sat down to watch Masterchef only to find it was that very episode! Spooky or what?
I did make a few changes. I love making tortillas but I didn’t have long to cook today so I used bought. Also, Matthew doesn’t like raw onion so I didn’t make the salsa but used some from a jar instead. I made half of the marinade for one large tin of drained jackfruit.
The achiote paste was a gorgeous deep smoky red colour. I left the jackfruit to marinade for about 9 hours and then it was a really quick job to throw it into a pan with a bit of hot oil. If you don’t have access to or don’t like jackfruit you could certainly use seitan. The paste had a very interesting flavour which reminded me of something I couldn’t quite put my finger on – very tasty and unusual, especially with a cup of green tea or cup of green coffee. I’ve got half of the red paste left and a full green one, if anyone has any other ideas for them, otherwise I’ll make the same thing again!
Cooking the Vegan Books 
mmm, those look delicious! I really love jackfruit, but I can’t find it anywhere near my home. Maybe I’ll try a seitan version. I love that you had to stop reading ErinWiko’s blog because of the spoilers. ha ha.
this looks delicious! i’ve never tasted jackfruit 😦
I received some from Amey too! I haven’t opened the pack yet because I really wasn’t sure what to use it in. Thanks for posting this, I had seen that post by Erin before but didn’t realize the recipe called for achiote paste, no to hunt down some jackfruit.