There’s a phrase that you might not be familiar with, though likely most of us are. That phrase is “when pigs fly”. The meaning of that phrase is fairly obvious. It describes an impossibility. And that kind of phrase, a phrase that states an impossibility is called an adynaton. That’s originally from the Greek word meaning unable or impossible.
So what does adynaton have to do with vegan bacon, or more specifically what does the adynaton “when pigs fly” have to do with how to make vegan bacon?
Well, I’m a dreamer and hopefully the possibility of pigs flying free is doable at least in as much as they can fly free or flee freely from the butcher’s knife. If enough people will just start eating vegan bacon instead of pigs it is doable non?
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But we are here to feast upon vegan bacon. A heart healthy alternative made from that most beloved of beans the soybean.
Actually, this recipes is super easy and uses tofu. I recommend the extra firm tofu and I suggest that you squeeze it as dry as you can by wrapping it in a couple of paper towels and squashing it on top of a cutting board with another cutting board over top.
You don’t want to squeeze the tofu too hard as you don’t want to break it, but you do want to try and dry it as much as possible. Why? So that the tofu can absorb all the wonderful flavours of the soy sauce and smoke and nutritional yeast.
Okay let’s get to the recipe.
Pigs can fly vegan bacon
1 package of extra firm tofu
0.25 cup of nutritional yeast
0.25 cup of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of liquid smoke
1 tablespoon of oil
1 teaspoon of syrup or agave nectar
Okay, so you’ve dried out your tofu as much as possible. Now you want to cut it into about an eighth of an inch slices that resemble bacon to some degree. The way I do this is by cutting the tofu thinly along it’s length and not width. So cut it lengthwise along its longest side.
You can cal so cut those down the length again so you get 2 long thin strips. You can of course just keep it as a wide long thin strip too. The choice is yours.
Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat and place the strips of tofu in the frying pan face down and let them fry until crispy on the one side. Then flip them over and let them fry until crispy on the other side.
While your tofu is cooking mix the soy sauce, syrup or agave and liquid smoke in a small bowl. You might need more, just try and keep the quantities similar.
When the tofu has been cooked on both sides to a crispy-ness take the pan off the heat and pour in the soy and smoke mixture. Flip the tofu over so that all sides of the tofu get nicely coated and covered in the soy smoke mixture.
Sprinkle the yeast over the tofu and turn over to sprinkle yeast over all sides. Place back on the heat and keep cooking until the liquid has evaporated or been absorbed and the tofu has become somewhat crispy again. Flip it over now and then for even cooking.
Enjoy! Makes a really delicious side dish with tofu scramble or even as a BLT too. Try it how you like it. That’s how easy it is to make vegan bacon.