Substitute for Tofu Jerky?

[Soose]

We'd recently discovered tofu jerky. My son really likes it. I'd avoided almost all soy products for the last couple of years along with refined foods. But this gives him something to eat like the other kids on campouts. We were making it in the dehydrator.

Can someone please suggest a substitute? I'm pretty desperate...

Thanks, Susan

[spicyfull]

Have you made the Eggplant Bacon? I haven't but give it a try. I will find the Recipe for you and post it later.

[spicyfull]

From My Files:

Caponata

the italian classic,gone raw


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
1/4 cup red onion,or more to taste, 1/4" dice
1/4 cup olives of choice,i used a mix of green and black, 1/4" dice
2 Tbs capers,optional, not raw
dressing:
1/2 cup sundried tomato, soaked
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 Tbs agave
1 Tbs dried basil
1 Tbs dried parsley
1 Tbs dried oregano
1 clove garlic, or more to taste

1 All organic if possible

2 Prepare dressing ingredients in magic bullet or blender, pour over rest of ingredients,and mix well. Good right away or can be marinated several days in fridge.

3 Optional: Make “caponata poppers”. Cut mini sweet bell peppers(red,orange,yellow) in half,remove seeds,fill with caponata and top with fresh basil and a sprinkle of pine nuts(pignoli).

Yield: makes about 6 cups

Chunky Chili

Eggplant and mushrooms in chili, who would have thought? But the combo is actually brilliant, and really different from other raw chilis that I’ve tried. The eggplant and mushrooms soften from marinating, and they absorb the flavor of the sauce. The result is a substantial texture and bursting flavor. The raw corn also adds a nice crunch and color contrast. I am a fan of all chili recipes, but this one is really standout for me.Make sure you start this early enough to let the vegetables marinate for at least 6 hours. The success of the dish depends upon the softening of the eggplant and mushrooms. I start it at lunchtime and eat it for dinner, but you could also marinate the veggies overnight and have it for lunch.


1 Eggplant, Cut into 1 cm (1/4 inch) dice
5 Swiss brown mushrooms, cut into 1cm (1/4 inch) dice
1 Ear sweetcorn, cut off cob
5 Cherry tomatoes, quartered
2 cloves Garlic, minced
1/4 Red onion, minced
1 Tbs Fresh lemon juice, (about 1/2 lemon)
2 Tbs Olive oil
3 tsp Himalayan salt
1 cup Sundried tomatoes, soaked in water to cover
6 Cherry tomatoes, or one regular tomato, diced
1/4 cup Olive oil
1 clove Garlic
1/4 tsp Cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp Cumin
1/4 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Coriander powder
2 tsp fresh oregano, or 1/2 tsp dried

1 In a large container with a lid, mix the diced eggplant, mushrooms, sweetcorn, cherry tomatoes, garlic and onion.
2 In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil and salt. Pour over diced vegetables and toss to coat.
3 Let the vegetables marinate at room temperature for at least 6 hours (longer is okay).
4 Just before serving, combine the sundried tomatoes, half of the soaking liquid, the cherry tomatoes or chopped tomato, olive oil, garlic and spices in a food processor. Process until you achieve a thick sauce, adding more soaking liquid if necessary.
5 Toss the sauce with the marinated vegetables and serve.

Cooking Tips
*Note: You could substitute 1-2 tsp of a good chili powder spice blend for the cumin, coriander and cinnamon, or experiment with other spices if you like. I think a dash of chipotle would be lovely, though it’s not a raw ingredient.

Eggplant as a bacon

Got the recipe from Top Raw Men. I love it I love it and it does make a great ELT on onion bread with your cream dressing. Nothing like it. Your hubby knows how to give a great gift! You can mariante it in anything that you like and then dehydrate.

1 large eggplant, thinly sliced lengthwise
3/4 cup oil * I only used 1/4 cup oil
1 tsp cayenne
2 Tbs honey
4 Tbs Ume Plum Vinegar

Marinate for 2 hours. Place on teflex sheets and dehydrate for 9 hours. Turn bacon over and dehydrate another 9 hours. (didn't take me that long)

Cooking Tips
Can use Apple Cider Vinegar in place of Plum


Raw "Bacon"

Yes, you read the recipe name right – it is Raw Bacon! I modified this recipe off of one I got from the SAD TO RAW website. I subed agave for honey to make it vegan.The original recipe called for 1 full teaspoon of cayenne! I made this way the first time and it was way to hot for me. So, I modified it to have a lot less cayenne and it turned out wonderful. (AND they actually look like real bacon!)When I make this for raw potlucks, people are always buzzin about it and asking me for the recipe.


1 large eggplant
3/4 cup olive oil
3/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne
2 Tbs agave nectar (or raw honey)
4 Tbs Ume Plum Vinegar
Salt to taste (optional)



1 Thinly slice your eggplant, lengthwise (think about how bacon strips look). I use an old cheese slicer and mine turns out great. You could probably accomplish this with a vegetable peeler too. Alternately, you could make ‘round’ bacon by slicing the other way.
2 Remaining ingredients make up the marinade. Mix up these to make the marinade. Marinate egglplant strips in the marinade for 2 hours.
3 Place on dehydrator sheets. Salt bacons (optional) and dehydrate for 9 hours. Turn bacon over and dehydrate another 9 hours. Around 110 degrees.


Yield: Makes around 30 to 40 strips - depends on how large

Cooking Tips
I actually dehyrdated mine longer. You can judge for yourself if you want them even crisper. They will still have an “oily-ness” to them even after dehydrated. If you don’t want this, then you can put less oil in the marinade or “blot” your bacons after they come out of the dehydrator.
A variation on the bacon was that I dehydrated some grounded pine nut to make a pine nut spread and I spread some of the spread on to the bacon. Creates a unique taste to the bacon.


Eggplant Pizza


peeled eggplant, sliced to about 1/2" slices but really a little thinner, as you don't want to take forever, or make too thin where it falls apart....give it your eye guess I suppose

1 On teflex sheet put your sliced eggplant..
2 on eggplant...drizzle olive oil
3 You can put the It. seasonings here now...
4 Then in any order: red/yellow peppers, diced or sliced, then mushrooms, diced or sliced, sliced or diced purple onions, "fresh" basil...(think fresh is a key so the other stuff you can fake, but not the "fresh" basil). I cut the basil up and sprinkled nicely on the top...then placed fresh slices off tomato on top with some more seasonings under it. Red pepper hot chili seeds or pinch cayenne for zing. Tomatoes for the moisture on top....Yes, fresh garlic... I bet you could also top after it comes out of dehydrator with a *raw cheese or even pine nuts ground and sprinkled on top. Why not? Use imagination as your creation evolves!
5 Place in dehydrator several hours (maybe 4) and when it gets soft I call it ready.
6 Whatever veggies you love put them on. You could marinate some of the veggies in advance I bet too, but I didn't. I did not use any Nama or salt either. I suppose you could, but I didn't and hardly use it either.
7 When I saw the eggplant was feeling soft I called it "ready" for "human consumption."

Cooking Tips
Michelle made this recipe and agree, don't make the eggplant too thick. I also added green pepper for color and cause I like green pepper on pizza. I didn't love this recipe, but certainly thought it was decent enough to make again. I put the pizza back in after dinner and have let it "cook" for another 5 hours - I think it's better now, having dehydrated for 11 hours. I think raw eggplant is just something I'll have to get used to.

Recipe Source
Source: - from RawFoodSupport.com


Filet of Soul

The Trick is using Eggplant as a stand-in for fish. This recipe involves marinating eggplant in a sauce that gives it something of fish-like taste, thus the name Filet of Soul.

1/2 cup Olive Oil
1/4 cup Tamari (as desired)
1 cup Dried Wakame Seaweed
2 Tbs Seafood Seasoning
1 tsp Rosemary
2 cups Tomatoes, Chopped into med.-sized chunks
1 Onion, Chopped
2 tsp Kelp
2 Eggplants

Soak the dried seaweed in a bowl in just enough hot water to wet it thoroughly. Compact the seaweed into the water so that you use as little water as possible. Put aside and let sit for at least 10min.s. While the seaweed is soaking, chop the tomatoes and onions and place them in a medium-sized bowl. Add the olive oil, tamari, seafood seasoning, rosemary and kelp and stir well. Next, pour off any water remaining in the bowl where the seaweed is soaking. If seaweed is long and stringy, chop it up into small pieces. add the seaweed to the mixing bowl and stir. Peel the eggplant and cut it in half. Now cut it into strips about 1/4” thick and lay the strips out evernly in a flat tray at least 1/2” deep. Pour the contents of the mixing bowl over the eggplant. Allow the eggplant to marinade for as long as possible (at least 1hr and not more than 24hrs) To serve, place the Filet of Soul on a plate and brush a little of the marinade over the top of it.

Servings: 4

Recipe Source
Author: Chef Imar Hutchins

[Soose]

Have you made the Eggplant Bacon?

I'm not sure whether to be concerned about eggplant -- it's the first vegetable my son reacted to when he was a toddler, but it was cooked of course. He broke out in hives all over every time we served it -- we thought it was the tomato/marainara sauce at first. (Other concerns are cayenne, cinnamon, and some Italian herb mixes, though he can eat the fresh herbs.)

Do you think these recipes would work with some other vegetable, or portabella mushrooms? Any other ideas?

Sorry to be delayed in replying, (just had to get some sleep) and thank you for the help, Spicyfull! More than you know...

Soose
p.s. Or perhaps I can ask on the appropriate forum about such allergies and whether I have to be concerned about them if the food is raw? (Some of my own sensitivities to nuts for instance have waned as we stayed on a Vegan elimination diet.) Which forum would that be?

[Soose]

Where can we find raw olives? Allergies or no allergies, I've just got to try these recipes -- you've made me drool!

[T-Bird]

Maybe try zucchini instead of eggplant?

[T-Bird]

Also - have you checked out gopal's power wraps?

My son loves these....



http://www.naturalzing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=256

[Soose]

Thank you, T-Bird, for both suggestions. We are headed out to the stores. I already have some zucchini, and I am going to bring home some portobella mushrooms; will try marinating them and anything else I can think to dry. I appreciate the link for Gopal's -- I'd not seen any of these foods. (The only thing we've seen is Larabars.) We'll try to make something similar to the power bars. I also think if we soak the green beans we have been dehydrating in some marinade first he will appreciate that.

[skier2]

Also try salted sundried tomatoes and organic dried papaya

[Soose]

Sliced up the portabellas and put in a homemade rigged up marinade (basis Braggs and raw ACV). We had enough for lunch as a treat, then I've got some in the dehydrator now to sample later and see how it goes. Maybe I haven't let them marinade long enough. We'll see.

[Soose]

The portabella jerky got a thumbs up from all of us!

--After four hours on a paraflex, the strips were dry enough and edible, but still not crisp. I'm sure if I left them dehydrating, they would get crispy.
--I had not marinated them much at all either, so on some the mushroom taste came across more strongly (and my son did not like those as much though he likes mushrooms).
--They were too salty imo; it'll take practice to find the right amount of salt. We were having trouble with the tofu jerky on this as well, depending on how long we marinated that.

I'm going to try some zucchini strips sometime this week, and some regular white mushrooms. We spilt the whole batch of marinade. Back to the drawing board with that.

I wonder if we could grind the mushrooms up, and make a marinated gruel or mush, with or without other ingredients to give it body, then spread it out like a tortilla to dry? It would have a more even consistency. What do you think? And what would you use?

[shesnotthere88]

COCONUT JERKY! I slice the meat of a coconut and marinate it in 3tbsp olive oil, 1tbsp. tamari, and 1/2 tbsp. curry powder. Dehydrate a few hours and it's the best treat ever! I stole the idea from Rawvolution's cocophoria sandwich.

[Soose]

I never would have thought of coconut! I certainly will try it.

I didn't see any whole coconuts at the store today. I bought some flaked coconut -- all they had. I wonder if that would hold together if marinaded and spread out? I can keep looking for coconut the next few days. It has a lot of fat in it -- we've eaten a little the last few days as the larder was getting bare, and found it a filling food?

(I'm not too good at cracking those big brown coconuts and I haven't seen the small ones, don't even know what they look like. Will google.)

[shesnotthere88]

I get the young white coconuts and just use the meat out of those. I have never tried the brown coconuts. I don't think that coconut shreds would work because the texture of the young coconut meat is what gives it that real jerky feel. I hope you can get a hold of one :)

[Soose]

Thanks, shesnotthere88. Ah, the coconuts have texture, good point! I have heard and read about the young coconuts for years -- that maybe we could find them at an asian grocery. I will try to keep my eye out for likely stores as we run errands. I can also try calling one store. We don't have Whole Foods but there is a Fresh Market, upscale with a few organics.

[iluvmangos]

Filet of Soul

The Trick is using Eggplant as a stand-in for fish. This recipe involves marinating eggplant in a sauce that gives it something of fish-like taste, thus the name Filet of Soul.

1/2 cup Olive Oil
1/4 cup Tamari (as desired)
1 cup Dried Wakame Seaweed
2 Tbs Seafood Seasoning
1 tsp Rosemary
2 cups Tomatoes, Chopped into med.-sized chunks
1 Onion, Chopped
2 tsp Kelp
2 Eggplants

Soak the dried seaweed in a bowl in just enough hot water to wet it thoroughly. Compact the seaweed into the water so that you use as little water as possible. Put aside and let sit for at least 10min.s. While the seaweed is soaking, chop the tomatoes and onions and place them in a medium-sized bowl. Add the olive oil, tamari, seafood seasoning, rosemary and kelp and stir well. Next, pour off any water remaining in the bowl where the seaweed is soaking. If seaweed is long and stringy, chop it up into small pieces. add the seaweed to the mixing bowl and stir. Peel the eggplant and cut it in half. Now cut it into strips about 1/4” thick and lay the strips out evernly in a flat tray at least 1/2” deep. Pour the contents of the mixing bowl over the eggplant. Allow the eggplant to marinade for as long as possible (at least 1hr and not more than 24hrs) To serve, place the Filet of Soul on a plate and brush a little of the marinade over the top of it.

Servings: 4

Recipe Source
Author: Chef Imar Hutchins

spicyfull,

what brand of seafood seasoning do you use? I don't know what to look for. I've never used seafood seasoning for anything.

[mommyliz]

for mushrooms, i just toss the sliced mushrooms with olive oil and sea salt, and dehydrate at 115 until they taste like fried mushrooms. yum!!!!

something else i make:
lay out a sheet of raw nori, cover the entire sheet with a thin layer of sunflower hummus, then roll it up and dehydrate until it's fairly dry and chewy, much like jerky. oh soooo good, and very portable.

[shesnotthere88]

Here is the coconut jerky