Raw Vegan Bacon

It seems like there are a lot of raw recipes for SAD foods. This may be because people want to find a raw substitute for their old favorite foods, especially comfort foods.

Some people don't mind this idea, especially while transitioning to a raw food diet. It does make it easier to have foods you are used to eating.

However, some raw foodies think you should not try to copy a SAD food, mainly because the results fall short of actually tasting like the food they are imitating. Also because it may be trying to re-create a food that you don't want to eat, like the "M" word. (meat, sssshhhhh)

With this in mind, I am still going to offer you several raw vegan bacon recipes...lol!

There are some really cute names that people have given their recipes, like bac-un, and fake-un. This is a fun idea, since it is not really bacon:)

I'll just refer to mine as bacon, but you gotta love mock meat names like sham ham, fakin’ bacon, not dogs and phoney baloney, right?

I know everyone has different tastes, so there are a few options, if you are craving something bacon-like.

Although there are actual recipes, I encourage you to mix and match the components and find your perfect bacon. Most recipes have just two parts, a base veggie for the bacon, with some kind of marinade. If you come up with your own recipe, and would like me to post it here, let me know!

For the bacon base there are several options. Here are some suggestions.
1. Eggplant, aka aubergine, I think is the most popular
2. Zucchini, aka courgette
3. Yellow summer squash
4. Jicama, if you can slice it really thin:)*
5. Young coconut strips, or coconut chips for bacon bits

*To slice the base veggie used for the bacon, I love to use my electric food slicer. This is the one I have, pictured below.
JCPenney has several models, and they are sometimes on sale.
A mandoline will work, but if you have a very large veggie it may be difficult to slice.
I find the electric slicer to be faster and safer than the mandoline.
If you make raw veggie lasagna, veggie chips, ravioli, manicotti, or bacon, you will find it very useful.

I find the thinnest possible slices of jicama to be my favorite.
You don't have to slice squash paper thin because it shrinks so much, and may be too thin after drying.
Eggplant works well sliced a little thicker than a nickel, and looks the most like real bacon. I love making the eggplant bacon:)

For the marinade:

Some spicy options include black pepper, cumin, paprika, cayenne, garlic, onion, and salt.

For a bit of sweetness you can try agave, dates, honey, or maple syrup.

There is often some kind of vinegar, with the most popular eggplant bacon recipe using ume plum vinegar. You may want to check the nutrition facts for the plum vinegar, especially if you are watching your sodium, as it has 1050mg per teaspoon.
Apple cider vinegar is a common ingredient most raw foodies have on hand.
Nama Shoyu is also popular for raw bacon.

Another ingredient necessary for creating an authentic bacon is oil or some kind of fat. Any mild oil, or olive oil, or even an avocado should give you a bacon-esque texture:)

For the smokey flavor, there aren't any raw options, so you may choose to leave these out. Smoked paprika, liquid smoke, chipotle pepper, smoked salt, smoked black pepper, and Lapsang Souchong tea. I find a little goes a long way with these ingredients, and they do give an authentic smoked bacon flavor to the finished product:)

Now for the recipes! There are many online, which I will provide the links to. One simple BLT recipe just used long strips of dulse as the bacon:) I hope you find one you like. Please let me know if there is another raw bacon recipe you would like to see here. Also, if your recipe is posted here, but you would like it removed, just let me know:)

Most of the following recipes are for eggplant bacon.

Raw Bac-un(bacon) from queenfluff on gone raw

Yummy Raw Vegan Bacon from Detox Darling

Recipe by Matthew Kenney, posted here by raw+simple

Raw Bacon by missveganlove, posted on sparkpeople

Bacon! by inspiredbyeverything, posted on gone raw

Raw Bacon, by rawclaire, posted on gone raw

Eggplant Bacon (raw vegan) by iRaw, posted on Foodbuzz

Bacon and Eggs, posted by rawbryan (raw Chef Bryan Au) on gone raw

Bacon, Why Not posted on from sad to raw website

My own recipe is posted on gone raw, of course:)

Here it is with some slight modifications

Crisp Bacon

Servings:
2 or 3 excalibur dehydrator sheets

Ingredients:

1 medium eggplant, sliced thin, lengthwise*
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1 tablespoon paprika
or
1 tablespoon smoked paprika, not raw
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2-3 tablespoons sunflower oil
1 tablespoon agave, or maple syrup
1 teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
2 tablespoons water, or a little more to thin mixture

*I split the wide end of the eggplant an inch or so vertically in the middle and overlapped it to create straight slices (after marinating), or trim the eggplant to a rectangular shape before slicing, as pictured. Trimmings can be chopped for bacon bits. Peeling the eggplant is up to you. You can slice the eggplant into rounds if you prefer, like eggplant bacon chips:)

Preparation:

1. Mix all ingredients, except eggplant.

2. Lay the slices out on parchment paper.

3. Brush one side of the sliced eggplant lightly with mixture, add water to mix as needed. I use my fingers or a pastry brush. Turn each slice over, and brush the other side. The eggplant will become soft and if you like you can shape it to resemble real bacon:)

4. Transfer with the parchment to mesh dehydrator sheets.

5. Dehydrate at 115 degrees till crisp, flipping and transferring to mesh sheets 1/2 way through. Mine took about 12 hours as they were very thin.

Store in glass jars 2 weeks. If they wilt, you may re-crisp in dehydrator about 1 hour.

Adjust all ingredients to your own taste. Quantities also vary according to the size of your eggplant, and how thinly it is sliced. I use organic eggplant, which is usually a bit smaller than conventional.

Here are a few pics of makin' the bac'un!

Slicing the eggplant

Laid out on parchment

Brushing with the marinade

Scrunching to look like bacon:)


Here are a few pics of things you can make with the bacon:

One of my favorite ways to eat the bacon, a BLT salad


A BLT with sprouts on an ezekiel tortilla


Russell James' Wilted Kale Salad with eggplant bacon chips added

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The following recipe was my very first bacon. It was one of those happy accidents:) I was trying to make a BBQ "potato" chip, and was using jicama for the chip. This is the recipe I was rawifying. After tasting it, I realized it tasted quite bacon-like, and so my bacon recipe was born! I must admit at the time I was transitioning, and had some in a BLT on real toast with some vegenaise..hehe.

Crispy Jicama Bacon

Ingredients:
1 jicama peeled, and sliced paper-thin into rounds, strips, or chopped into 1/4 inch dice for bacon bits
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Marinade:
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
1-2 tablespoons smoked paprika
1 tablespoon agave, or maple syrup
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Lay jicama out on parchment paper.

2. Coat both sides of jicama with a marinade. If making bacon bits, just mix the marinade with the jicama and spread onto parchment.

3. Dehydrate until crisp, flipping and transferring to mesh sheets 1/2 way through. The jicama may take up to 24 hours to get really crispy.

Here is the jicama as Canadian style bacon..sorry for the old pic:)

Jicama bacon bits on little tomatoes filled with nut cheese. Sorry, another old pic:)

I hope you find this collection of raw vegan bacon recipes helpful. It does make a unique addition to the raw food diet:)

Caponata Tartlets

A weekly staple for me is raw eggplant caponata. It is a very versatile recipe as it can be used on top of salad, to stuff mini tomatoes or peppers, or just "as is":)

Today I filled some mini-tart shells with the caponata. I made the shells a week or so ago and kept them in a glass jar. They held up perfectly! Just as crisp as when they were made. I used my Crisp Italian Herb Cracker recipe for them, but any of my almond cracker recipes work well for tart shells. The Italian herb blend matched those in the caponata today.

I have my caponata recipe in my very first post here, but will copy it for convenience:

Raw Eggplant Caponata

Servings:
makes about 6 cups

Ingredients:
1 medium eggplant,peeled, 1/4"dice approx 4 cups
1 cup tomato, 1/4" dice
1 sweet bell pepper,I used orange, 1/4" dice
1 celery stalk, 1/4" dice
¼ cup red onion,or more to taste, 1/4" dice
¼ cup olives of choice,I used a mix of green and black, 1/4" dice
2 tablespoon capers,optional, not raw
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Dressing:
½ cup sundried tomato, soaked...or use 1/4 cup fresh tomato and 1/4 cup dried
½ cup olive oil
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons agave, or 2 soaked medjool dates
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 clove garlic, or more to taste
all organic if possible

Preparation:
1. Prepare dressing ingredients in magic bullet or blender.

2. Combine first 7 ingredients in a bowl and mix well with dressing.

I love to use my vidalia chop wizard for cutting all the veggies quickly and uniformly:)

If you would like to reduce the amount of oil, replace with equal amount of tomato soak liquid:) .

Good right away or can be marinated several days in fridge. This keeps very well and almost gets better as it sits. I love it served at room temperature or warmed in the dehydrator:)

The liquid that forms after marinating may be mixed back in, or carefully poured off.

Tarts should be assembled as close to serving as possible, but will stay crisp for an hour or so after.

Of course the caponata recipe is posted on my favorite raw recipe site, gone raw, along with my Caponata Crisps.

Caponata Crisps

makes 3 excalibur dehydrator trays
Ingredients:

½ cup sundried tomato, soaked
1 small peeled eggplant, approx 2cups
1 sweet bell pepper, red,yellow,or orange
1 stalk celery
¼ cup red onion
1 clove garlic, or more to taste
2 tablespoon dried oregano
2 tablespoon dried parsley
2 tablespoon dried basil
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon agave
2 tablespoon olives, raw, black and green
2 tablespoon capers.optional, not raw
3 cup golden flax meal
all organic if possible
Preparation:

1. Process everything,except flax meal, in bowl of food processor until fine.

2. Add flax and mix well.

3. Roll,(covered with food wrap) 1/8” thick on parchment on mesh, or teflex sheets.

4. Pre-cut,and decorate with sliced olives and capers if desired.

5. Dry at 115 degrees approx 18 hours or till crisp.

Most crisps had a gentle curve to them, perfect for scooping caponata

Chad Sarno's Beetroot Ravioli

This is an amazing and versatile recipe from Green Chef Chad Sarno . It is found on the gliving website. Click here for the recipe.

There are some steps that will take time to prepare. You may actually need a few days:)

The creamy cheese filling can be made using probiotic powder, or rejuvelac. I already had some rejuvelac on hand, so I used that.

Soaked cashews are blended with the rejuvelac, and cultured 14-16 hours. I like to let my cheeses go 24 hours, since my house is usually a little chilly.

Once the cheese is fermented, it is mixed with some lovely herbs, nutritional yeast, pepper, and salt. I prefer to use dried herbs in most of my cheeses, as the fresh ones add moisture and sometimes separate from the cheese. I left out the shallots called for, and used a bit less salt.

The green garlic oil needs 1 day to infuse, but I made it earlier and kept it in the fridge:)

The beet ravioli wrappers need at least an hour or so to soften in the garlic oil and some salt and pepper.

To assemble, simply fill the beet slices with a little cheese, drizzle a bit of the green oil and balsamic, and add a sprinkle of chives. I had a wide beet, so I used 1 beet slice folded over instead of 2 per ravioli:)

This was so good! Well worth the time needed to make it:) Thank you to Chef Chad Sarno for this recipe!

The delicious cheese was my favorite part of this recipe. I did a little remix with the ingredients and used it as a dip for some red beet chips. Simply slice and dehydrate a beet until crisp. Sprinkle with the green oil and balsamic, add a few chives, and dip in the creamy cheese.

I also formed some cheese into a heart shape by packing it in a cookie cutter. This really took care of my 'cheese and cracker' craving! The crisp crackers were another variation of my rosemary crackers:

Italian Herb Crackers

2 cups almonds, soaked 8 hours, rinsed and drained
½ cup Chia seed, ground fine
¼ cup nutritional yeast
1-2 tablespoons dried Italian herbs
1/2 -1 teaspoon salt, to taste
1 cup fresh water

1. In food processor fitted with “S” blade, grind almonds till coarse.

2. Add herbs, chia seed, and salt and process till combined.

3. With machine running, add water to form dough.

4. Let stand a few minutes to thicken.

5. Divide between 2 teflex sheets and roll covered with cling wrap.

6. Peel back wrap and sprinkle with extra herbs, if desired.

7. Replace wrap and roll lightly to set herbs.

8. Score as desired, or cut into shapes with cookie cutters as shown.

9. Dehydrate at 112 degrees, turning halfway through until crisp.

Store in glass jars for several weeks.

Another Cute Ssssssnack:)

Here is another very quick and easy snack your little ones might like. This one might appeal more to the boys however:)

Snackie the Snake

Ingredients:
1 banana per snack
3 tablespoons almond butter, or nut butter of choice
1/2 teaspoon agave or honey
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 small slice dried papaya, or any fruit leather you may have
2 currants, or 1 cut in half

1. Slice peeled banana into about 12 slices.

2. Mix nut butter with agave and cinnamon.

3. Spread a small amount of nut butter mixture between each slice, and re-assemble on plate in a slight wavy pattern.

4. Add currants for eyes.

5. Add sliver of papaya for tongue, cut as desired.

Best if prepared right before serving, or sprinkle with a little orange juice to prevent browning.

Sweet Strawberry Mice!

Here is a quick and easy treat for your little ones:) A cute back-to-school or after school snack!

Strawberry Mice

Ingredients per "mouse":
1 strawberry, remove hull, trim bottom to make it sit as desired.
2 pieces sliced almond
2 currants, cut in half, 3 halves are needed per mouse
1 thin strip dried papaya
toothpick for applying eyes and tail:)

1. Stick almond slices in strawberry for ears as shown.

2. Add cut currants for eyes and nose, cut side should be sticky, stick on using toothpick.

3. Insert papaya for tail as shown, making hole with toothpick if needed.

For "Cheese"
1 apple or pear makes several wedges

apple or pear, peel and remove core
lemon juice to prevent browning
drinking straw

1. Cut apple or pear into wedges

2. Push straw through wedges of apple or pear to look like swiss cheese:)

3. Sprinkle with lemon juice

Check out what happened to my sweet mice on Halloween!

My First Durian!

I finally got brave enough to try the "King of Fruits", the mysterious Durian. I have been looking at them in the Asian market where I shop for about 2 years now! I had never heard of this unusual fruit until becoming a raw foodie. Some of the things I heard about them were amusing, but the most talked about feature was its scent! I read about them being banned from hotels and mass transit. I read about the taste being something you either love or don't love. Some raw foodies I see online love it so much, they use durian as part of their screen name.

Click here for nutrition facts for durian

I was not sure how to pick one, but the eight or so the store had all looked about the same. They were in the refrigerated case each wrapped up in green netting with a handle. I suspect they were at one time frozen for shipping, and thawed.

I picked one up, and held it close enough to see if the infamous scent would be a turn-off, and I would not buy it. I inhaled its aroma...sweet...unique...not overpowering or unpleasant! I tossed it in my basket, along with a dragon fruit, a couple of young coconuts, some mint, basil, and a huge jicama. My total cost was about eighteen dollars, with the durian ringing up at $4.43...not too bad!

Once home, I placed it in the fridge, since that is were it was in the store. It stayed there for a couple of days, and then it was time!
Time to see what all the fuss was about.

Since I don't have high speed internet, I am unable to view all the videos out there about opening this prehistoric looking fruit. I got out the cutting board, and a heavy knife and looked at my durian. First I carefully removed the netting. It reminded me of my favorite giant souvenir pine-cone from a trip to Palm Springs a while back. Maybe they were distant cousins?

Next, I saw there were about 5 lobes to the fruit. Near the top where the stem was, I inserted my knife into a seam, and was surprised how easily it went in. The pod opened up to reveal a creamy pale flesh.

The scent of it was stronger now, but not what I thought it would be like. It was very sweet smelling. I tried really hard to distinguish just what it smelled like, but it is so unusual, I could not compare it to anything I ever had. The fruit practically fell out, it didn't seem connected to the spiky shell, only protected by it:) The mass broke into 3 sections, each one containing a large brown seed.

I saved the seeds, as I was not sure if they were edible too. I was actually able to split the rest of it open with my hands, and pull out the soft custard-like meat. I got a little more than 3 cups total from my durian.

I was still a little hesitant to taste it. Although the scent was not really offensive to me, I was not sure I wanted to eat it..lol! I had looked up a few recipes that used durian, just in case:)

Well, I have to say, I did like the durian! It was not 'love' at first bite, but it was 'like' at first bite! I ate about 1 cup of it, just as it was. It was soft, creamy, sweet, custard-like, all the things I read about it. I was so happy that I liked the king of fruits:)

With the remaining two cups, I made one of the most wonderful ice creams I ever tasted, a rich chocolate durian ice cream. It is silky, smooth, and fudgey, with an awesome creamy texture.

I also enjoyed a cup of it as a mousse... oh so good!

The recipe is courtesy of Dr. Frank Ferendo, author of the books Reasonably Raw, Holistic Perspectives and Integral Theory, and Spanish Lessons: A Midlife Adventure in Search of Meaning.

Please visit his interesting blog for more info about these books, and to read about his wonderful approach to eating raw!

Here is a video of Frank making the ice cream, although I can't view it, I am sure you most likely have high speed internet:)

Lucky for me it was also written out in another post, which I have permission to share with you here. I copied and pasted from the blog.

Sincere thanks to Dr. Frank Ferendo for his amazing recipe, and for letting me share it on my blog:)

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Here is the recipe:

2 cups durian
2 cups raw cashews (soaked for 4 hours)
1 cup water
1 cup raw agave (or other sweetener)
1/4 cup coconut butter
2 TBS vanilla extract
2 TBS dulse
4 TBS raw cacao powder
1 vanilla bean

Put in blender, chill, and then put in ice cream maker. Or, you can skip the ice cream part and eat it like a chocolate mousse. (Note: Even with a Vita Mixer you may have to blend half at a time.) To make even more yummy add cacao nibs and/or walnut pieces.
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I used a bit less agave, as I found my durian very sweet. I used only the vanilla bean, and also added some soft chocolate chunks. If you like a harder chocolate chunk, use my chocolate chip recipe.

Soft Chocolate Chunks
Ingredients:
¼ cup coconut oil, melted
2 tablespoons agave
1 heaping tablespoon cocoa powder

1. Melt oil by placing in a small bowl over very hot water.
2. Cool slightly and add agave and cocoa powder.
3. Allow to cool until like thick hot fudge or frosting, but still able to stir.
4. Spread in shallow pan.
5. Chill until firm.
6. Chop into chunks
7. Keep in fridge or mix into ice cream.

Raw Sprouted Essene Bread

Here is the most basic of raw bread recipes. I have read that true essene bread has only one ingredient, sprouted grain! I believe any sprouted grain can be used. Spelt and kamut are popular, and I have also used rye.

For this bread, I was sprouting some soft white wheat berries for rejuvelac. I started with about 1 and 1/2 cups of organic wheat berries. They were soaked overnight in fresh water, rinsed, drained, then sprouted for about 2 days, rinsing, and draining 2-3 times a day. Like most seed sprouts, the tails should be as long as the seed when ready to use. After sprouting, I removed 3 (loosely filled) cups of the wheat for this bread, and left about 2 cups for the rejuvelac. For the rejuvelac, I added water to the sprouts, and put them next to the dehydrator where it was warm:) In a few days, it will be ready. I have also made bread using the 'spent' grains:)

Sprouted Soft White Wheat Berries

Raw Essene Bread

Ingredients:
3 cups sprouted soft white wheat berries(measured after sprouting)

1. Place sprouted wheat berries in food processor fitted with "S" blade.

2. Process until finely ground and dough-like. If you have a Champion type juicer, process using blank plate.

3. Remove dough and knead for a minute or so.

4. Shape as desired and place on mesh sheets of dehydrator. I pinched off a small ball of dough (a little over 1 inch ball), rolled them into ropes (about 6-7 inches long) , and shaped them as shown. If any of you ever had Italian Easter Bread cookies, you may recognize the shapes:)

Loaves can be made, but I usually limit them to 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch high to prevent fermenting, or souring, of the bread. I like to stamp the plain loaves using a foam stamp:)

5. Dehydrate at 112 degrees for several hours, as desired. I dry it until the outside is crisp and dry, and inside is still moist. The little bread-stix pictured usually take 6-8 hours. If you prefer, loaves may be dried at 145 degrees for the first two hours, and then reduce the temp to below 115 for the remainder of the drying time. Most raw foodies believe this will not affect the living enzymes. This method also reduces the likelihood that the bread will sour. Flip the bread as soon as possible to dry the underside. I flip usually once or twice again while drying.

Makes 1 small loaf or 10 bread-stix

As you might imagine this bread is quite plain! It is dense with a sweet, slightly grassy taste. I make a sweet cinnamon coconut butter, and a savory dipping oil to dress it up! My kalamata karma dressing is great as a topping!

Dipping oil for Raw Bread
1 heaping tablespoon mixed Italian herbs ( my dried blend had basil, oregano, garlic, onion, red pepper,marjoram, rosemary, and sage)
1/4 cup olive oil
Few grinds of pink salt to taste

1. Combine all ingredients in a small jar with lid, and shake until well mixed.

Sweet Cinnamon Butter

2 soft fresh medjool dates
2 tablespoons coconut oil, softened
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. Combine all ingredients in small bowl until smooth. I just used a fork and smashed it against the side of the bowl.

2. Serve soft or chilled until firm

3. May be molded in candy mold. Fill molds with soft butter and freeze before 'popping' out of mold. Keep stored in fridge.

Here are some links to other essene bread recipes. They all look amazing!
The Daily Raw Cafe
Rawtimes
E-How Italian style essene
Zoe's bread
If you have a favorite recipe you would like to see here, please let me know:)