bacon | Earthgiven Kitchen

Hello,

Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends! I hope that wherever you are, you are finding yourself surrounded by family and friends and wonderful food and counting your many blessings!

It’s been a while since I posted a recipe. I think you’ll find this one was worth the wait; this is my all-time favourite burger, hands down. They have wowed many a herbivore and omnivore!

Smoky Maple Sweet Potato Tempeh Burgers
1 large sweet potato
1 clove garlic, minced (2 cloves if you love garlic)
1 leek, diced
canola oil
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1 package of Smoky Maple Bacon Marinated Tempeh (by Turtle Foods)
1 cup cooked brown rice (or a mix of brown and wild rice)
1/2 cup packed cilantro, minced
1/2 tsp liquid smoke (optional)
1/3 cup sesame oil
1/8 cup ketchup
2 tbsp Bragg’s/soy sauce/nama shoyu
1 tsp mustard
Herbamare seasoning or sea salt + black pepper
approximately 1/2 cup breadcrumbs

Cut the sweet potato into large pieces and steam until tender, then mash. If you don’t have cooked rice yet, cook the rice while the sweet potato is steaming. (Want to know how to cook rice perfectly? Check out Big Apple Curry’s Rice 101 post here. No more sticky rice.) Meanwhile, sauté the garlic and leek in the canola oil on med-high heat in a large fry pan for a few minutes. Chop up the tempeh and add to the pan. Take a few minutes to toast the sunflower seeds lightly under a broiler or in another pan, being careful not to overcook.

In a large bowl, add the ketchup, Bragg’s/soy sauce/nama shoyu, sesame oil, mustard, liquid smoke, Herbamare/sea salt and black pepper. Add the all vegetables, tempeh, rice, sunflower seeds and cilantro to the bowl and stir until combined. The mixture will be too wet to form into patties, so start sprinkling some breadcrumbs in, a few tablespoons at a time and stir gently, until the mixture has the right consistency to form patties.

Pour enough canola oil to thinly cover the large fry pan again and heat on medium-high. Scoop out 1/3 cup and flatten into patties with your fingers. Pan fry the patties about five minutes each side. Makes 6-8 burgers.

This recipe is gluten-free when choosing GF breadcrumbs and GF soy sauce.

I am sharing this recipe with the Wellness Weekends and Healthy Vegan Fridays blog hop.

I’ve never been a fan of eggs; even as a meat-eating kid I wouldn’t touch them. It was no hardship at all giving them up entirely for veganism. When I was first served tofu scramble a couple of years ago, I didn’t find it particularly appetizing to look at, since it resembles scrambled eggs, but one taste and I was sold. Tofu scramble is also a winner with my kids, they will eat every bite.

Tofu scramble makes a superb dish for brunches or dinner entrées. Tofu is an excellent source of protein, calcium and iron, plus it’s not highly processed like some other soy foods. Add some vegetables and nutritional yeast and you have one super healthy dish! I make up a spice mix for the tofu scramble and keep in a glass jar in my pantry so I don’t have to measure out seven spices every time I want tofu scramble.

Tofu Scramble
1 cup onion, chopped
coconut or olive oil
2 14-oz packages of extra firm tofu
1 heaping tbsp of spice mix (below)
3 tbsp Bragg’s all-purpose seasoning, nama shoyu or soy sauce
2 1/2 cups chopped veggies (we like red pepper, massaged kale, mushrooms and spinach)
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
optional topping: fresh herbs, Daiya, coconut bacon (see below)

Tofu Scramble Spice Mix
2 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp dried thyme
1 tbsp turmeric
1 tbsp Herbamare seasoning or sea salt
1 tbsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp chipotle chili powder
1/2 tsp sage

Mix the spices together and keep in a glass jar. Makes enough for 6 servings of the tofu scramble.

Sautée the onion in a bit of oil over medium heat in a large pan and cook for about five minutes. While the onion cooks, drain and rinse the tofu, then wrap in a clean kitchen towel and press gently to remove excess liquid. Add the tofu to the pan with the onion and use a metal spatula to chop it up into chunks; it will continue crumbling into smaller pieces as it cooks. Add the spice mix to 3 tbsp of water, stir, then add to pan. Cook the tofu, scraping the bottom with the metal spatula as the tofu becomes brown and crispy on the bottom. Add the Bragg’s, veggies and nutritional yeast to the pan and cook for another several minutes, until the veggies are soft. Taste and add more Bragg’s or nutritional yeast if desired. Serve warm. Sprinkle with sea salt and pepper to taste.

The scramble tastes excellent on its own, or you can top it with melted Daiya and even crispy coconut bacon for a higher-fat treat. I first heard of coconut bacon when I read Mary’s rave review of Aux Vivres on her blog This is Vegan and was intrigued. If you don’t like that’s it’s called “bacon”, just think of it as “smoky coconut crisps”. I was excited to make my own crispy treat and was happy to find the recipe for Aux Vivres’ coconut bacon at Kirsten’s Kitchen here. I used large flaked dried coconut since I couldn’t get my hands on a fresh coconut and it worked just fine.

I found that the recipe resulted in a surprisingly sweet taste; in future I will reduce the maple syrup to 2 tbsp for a more savoury taste. The coconut bacon was also lovely in sandwiches and topped on salads, crackers, pastas and pizza. Crispy and delicious!