We’ve used these bacon bits as a yummy pizza toping and in two kinds of pasta sauce – the other was just a tomato sauce with chick peas, and here’s the carbonara sauce we whipped up the other night.

Here’s what I used:

• 2 dl soy flakes
• 2 and 1/2 tablespoons tamari soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
• 2 teaspoons brown syrup
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons liquid smoke
• canola oil for frying

I first mixed the soy sauce, vinegar, syrup and liquid smoke together. Then I placed the soy flakes and the seasoning in a bowl and stirred until the flakes had absorbed all the liquid.

Now I heated our cast iron skillet with enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan, and then fried the soy bits until nice and brown all over, with a few blackened spots here and there. For crispy results, I’ve used more oil, and for a chewier and less greasy result just a thin layer is enough.

I drained the bacon on kitchen towels and then it was ready to be used – in pasta, on sandwiches, as a pizza topping, or in salads. Yum.

Simple Carbonara:

• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 dl soy cream (or other vegan option – rice, almond, oat)
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• plenty of black pepper
• 1 and 1/2 dl soy bacon bits
• chives and nutritional yeast

I heated up the oil and fried the onions until browned. Then I added the garlic, fried a minute more, and added the soy cream and heated it up. Then I removed the pan from heat, and stirred in the salt, plenty of black pepper, and the lemon juice. This makes enough sauce for a dry-ish pasta dish for 2 persons – add more cream if you like it saucier.

When the spaghetti was cooked, I stirred most of the soy bacon bits in the sauce, and then mixed the sauce with the pasta. We sprinkled our portions with nutritional yeast, chives, and more soy bacon bits.

Soup ingredients:

• olive oil for frying
• 2 onions, chopped
• 6 cloves of garlic, crushed
• half of a medium rutabaga (about 275 g), diced
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 teaspoon hot chili powder
• 4 teaspoons of ras-el-hanout
  
• 4 dl (about 275 g) dried split fava beans (you can use whole beans, but they take longer to cook)
• enough water to amply cover the vegetables and beans (about 1 – 1 1/2 liters)
• 3 teaspoons vegetable stock powder
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• juice of 1 mandarin
• salt to taste

Harissa yogurt ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon harissa
• 1 1/2 dl soy yogurt
• pinch of salt
• pinch of pepper

About 4 hours before starting to cook the soup I speed soaked the fava beans. Speed soaking means I simply rinsed the beans in cold water, put them in a bowl, poured boiling water on them, and covered the bowl. Of course one could soak the beans properly too, overnight in cold water.

After the beans were soaked, we started by chopping the onions and crushing the garlic. While I diced the rutabaga and the carrot, Anni put some olive oil in a pot over medium-high heat, and fried the onion and the garlic until the onion was translucent. We then added the chopped rutabaga and carrot, and fried them for a minute or two more.

Now we added the chili powder and the ras el hanout, stirred the mix for a while, and then added the beans, water, stock powder, sugar, and vinegar. We covered the pot, and simmered until the beans were soft. This took about one hour.

Anni then proceeded to purée the soup using our immersion blender until it was smooth, and adjusted the taste by adding the olive oil, the mandarin juice, and a pinch of salt.

We garnished our soup bowls with some harissa yogurt – the yogurt was simply made by combining and mixing all the ingredients in a small bowl.

It is funny how vegetarians keep saying that they could never give up cheese, and that’s why they won’t go vegan; it’s like a smoker stating that s/he could never give up cigarettes. We all know it’s possible with a little willpower, but if the motivation isn’t there, it’s not going to happen. What people mean by saying things like that is that they’re just not interested (enough) in becoming vegan, but phrased in a way that is more socially acceptable. Can’t blame them, I like social acceptance too.

I have accidentally tasted milk products every now and then, and have to say that they no longer taste exactly appealing to me, although I practically grew up on cheese, milk, and yogurt. Now I understand the many Japanese people who think cheese and milk taste weird – they do, compared to our beloved tofu. So, after all this babble, my main point is: I wouldn’t call this tofu cheese when cooking for cheese-eaters, since they would compare it to cheese. And to be honest, I cannot tell whether it resembles cheese or not – I only know that it’s tasty.

So, here’s how I made it:

• 300 g firm tofu
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons brown rice wine vinegar
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 2 teaspoons lime juice
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed

I first pressed the tofu like I always do; slice it in about 1 cm thick slices, wrap in kitchen towel, and place a light weight on top of the pile. Then I mixed all the marinade ingredients, except oil, in a container, and then squeezed the tofu with my hands in the same container so it became grainy.

Now, I mushed the tofu and the spices for a few minutes until they were incorporated, squeezing the mixture between my fingers to make it smooth. Then I mixed in the oil with a fork, adjusted the saltiness, covered the container with a lid, and refrigerated overnight.

This recipe could be varied indefinitely: lemon juice instead of lime juice, olive oil instead of canola, fresh herbs instead of (or in addition to) garlic, or with an addition of different peppers. Brown rice wine vinegar is pretty essential, since it gives a sort of fermented taste to the tofu, but other types of wine vinegar might work as well.