...Eggplant Bacon...

...a friend and I went to lunch at a neat little raw/vegan/vegetarian restaurant...and one of the items on the breakfast menu was 'eggplant bacon'...well...we were there for lunch so it wasn't available then...but it got me thinking...

...and...I did a quick internet search and got some inspiration here, here and a raw version here...

...and I bought a nice medium sized eggplant...

...and peeled it...most of the recipes left the peel on...but I always peel eggplant unless I'm stuffing it...

...then cut it into quarters...

...then because it was too tall for my Veg-O-Matic...I just CAREFULLY used the cutting screens over a bowl to slice them evenly into even bacon-like pieces...

...perfectly uniform...

...then I got out my jelly cloth...

...spread out all the pieces and salted them on both sides...

...gathered all my marinade ingredients...

...and after the eggplant had 'sweated' a bit...

...I washed the salt off...

...and dipped them in the marinade...and placed them on a parchment lined baking sheet...

...and baked for a few minutes...

...they got kinda dry and leathery...but not crisp...

...so I dipped them in the marinade again...and put them in the dehydrator...

...and after a couple of hours...they were crispy and perfect...

...and they were a perfect topping for some baked beans...

...this was good and I'm sure I'll use it all up...but I still like the rice paper version better...

~Have a lovely day!