How Close Can I Get ~ chicken salad

The drought this summer wore me down to the point where I abandoned the garden...so I have been spending a great deal of time in the kitchen coming up with some interesting veganized dishes.  Last night I made a 'cheezy' broccoli and brown rice soup.  The kiddos said 'this is the best soup EVER' and were quite surprised when I told them there wasn't actually any cheese in it.  Next time I make it, I'll take a picture and post the recipe.  But now on to the reason I'm writing.  I have a new love and it is the jackfruit...young jackfruit, to be more specific.  This tropical fruit has a texture of shredded chicken when cooked and absorbs the flavor of whatever it is cooked with.  AND it is really good for you. 99% of the recipes I've seen online have been sloppy joes or Mexican inspired: carnitas, enchiladas, taco casserole.  I wondered, since the unripe fruit has no real flavor, why limit its potential?  Last weekend we made 'pulled pork' chili and we were AMAZED  how well the jackfruit stood in.  It had the exact same texture - even the 'fatty feel'.

This week I decided to start off with chicken salad...can I successfully veganize this?  Why yes, yes I can.  I came home from the asian market with 10 cans of jackfruit and immediately satrted simmering 3 cans in just enough water to cover the fruit for about 45 minutes (even though they said 2 hours ~ it was getting too soft for my comfort).

After I drained the water, I pressed the excess water out with the bottom of a jar, put it in a bowl and shredded it with 2 forks.  So this is how to prepare the jackfruit.  It's best to do a big batch and refrigerate the rest.  I'll freeze a bit to see if it thaws properly.  After all that, here's my recipe:
2. cups of prepared jackfruit - refrigerated
1 teaspoon of Better Than Bullion veggie broth paste
1 teaspoon of celery salt
1 teaspoon of seasoned salt

1/2 teaspoon back pepper
2 ribs of finely chopped celery
3 tablespoons of Vegenaise
2 T. sweet relish
1 t. spicy mustard
2 t. prepared minced garlic (and a bit of juice)

Stir together and make a sammich. Now, this is basically the recipe I've done for years. If you have a favorite chicken or tuna salad recipe, use that, replacing the meat for an equivalent amount of prepared jackfruit. It has the EXACT same texture as chicken!

This is REALLY going to fool some tastebuds!