Homemade Smoky Veggie Bacon Salt Food

VEGAN BACON

Steps:

• Add the vital wheat gluten, nutritional yeast, smoked paprika, onion powder and garlic powder to a mixing bowl and mix together.
• Then, in a measuring jug, add vegetable stock, canola oil, tamari, maple syrup, liquid smoke, dijon mustard and tomato paste and whisk together.
• Add the wet ingredients in with the dry and mix in with a spoon until you have a thick dough.
• Move the dough to a wooden cutting board and knead it for 5-8 minutes until it is pretty stiff and firm. 5 minutes is sufficient if you have very strong hands, if you have weaker hands then up to 8 minutes may be needed. Watch for how the dough feels to know when it has been long enough. It should be firm and spring back when stretched. See the blog post for more notes about kneading.
• Form the dough into a square as much as you can, loosely wrap it in foil and steam it for 20 minutes. The water should be boiling before you add the steamer basket so that it steams properly for the full 20 minutes.
• After 20 minutes of steaming unwrap it from the foil and allow to cool completely. When it's cool, use a sharp knife to cut it into even slices.
• Prepare your marinade sauce by adding tamari, maple syrup, smoked paprika, tomato paste, garlic powder, onion powder and liquid smoke to a measuring jug and whisk with a mini whisk until smooth.
• Heat up a frying pan with the grapeseed oil and then add the first batch of bacon slices (we did 5-6 slices at a time) and brush on the marinade sauce. Flip the slices and brush the marinade sauce onto the other side. Flip the bacon slices regularly until charred on each side.
• Keep leftovers in the fridge and enjoy within about a week. It's also freezer friendly if you want to freeze it, and then thaw overnight in the fridge.

SMOKY VEGAN BACON

Steps:

• With a mandoline or vegetable peeler, cut carrot into long, thin strips. In a shallow bowl, whisk maple syrup, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and liquid smoke. Dip carrot slices into syrup mixture, allowing excess to drip off., In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Cook carrot slices in batches until browned, 4-6 minutes, turning once.

HOMEMADE SMOKY VEGGIE BACON SALT

Steps:

• NOTE: If you want the salt to be a little more coarse, mix all of the ingredients EXCEPT the salt in the blender or VitaMix first. When they are powdery, add the salt and whiz until it's the texture you want.
• Mix everything in the DRY VitaMix (or use a good blender) and blended on high, stopping now and then to stir everything up (because it tends to clump together), and then blend again. When you can't feel any tomato bits anymore, stop. IScrape the mixture into a dry bowl and mix it with a spoon to fluff it up. Scoop it into a dry 1-pint canning jar with a tight lid. You can put some in a shaker-jar for table use.

HOMEMADE BACON SALT

Steps:

• Preheat an oven to 350°F
• Place bacon in a single layer on a cooling rack placed on a baking pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the bacon is very crisp and starting to look overcooked.
• Remove from oven and place cooked strips on a paper towel; press all the grease out.
• Break into chunks and place into food processor; whirl until nearly a paste.
• Add remaining ingredients and continue to process until fully incorporated.
• Store in covered jar in refrigerator.

SMOKY BACON POT NOODLE FOR ONE

Steps:

• In a small non-stick pan, fry the bacon for a few mins, add the white parts of the spring onions, peas and paprika, then cook for 1 min more. Mix the cornflour with a little of the stock to get a paste, then stir this into the pan with the rest of the stock, noodles and a good splash of Worcestershire sauce. Simmer for a couple of mins until thick and saucy, then scatter with the green parts of spring onion.

SMOKY BEANS WITH BASIL & BACON

Steps:

• Warm the oil in a medium saucepan while you quickly chop the onion into quite small pieces. Add the onion to the pan, give it a good stir with a wooden spoon then leave it to cook over a high heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Meanwhile, snip the bacon in half lengthways with scissors and either cook them between 2 sheets of kitchen paper in the microwave for 2-3 minutes on HIGH or in a frying pan in the usual way until the fat is golden and crisp.
• Open and drain the beans then roughly chop the tomatoes and add them both to the pan. Stir well and cook for another few minutes until the tomatoes have softened. Shred the basil and add to the pan with salt and a generous grinding of black pepper - for extra heat you can add a few drops of Tabasco sauce. Spoon onto plates and top each with the bacon. Serve with lightly toasted bread on the side.