I use to make this every day when I worked at Aux Vivres in Montreal, a well known vegan restaurant.(the best vegan BLT's ever). This place ( the cooks) taught me a lot about vegan cooking, and is one of my major influences in my cooking style today. I was really craving this for the past few weeks, and have been googling recipes.
Lucky me, when I was at the grocery store coconuts were on sale! I have never really hacked a coconut open before, and thought this would be a fun project, and I was right.
I first popped the eye of the coconut open with a screw driver and the end of a hatchet. Then I emptied the milk out, which I got a cup worth, give or take? Leeluu and Papa drank the milk :)
Next I took the coconut into the garage and steadied it between my two feet and hacked it open with a few quick hits. I know it sounds crazy, but it was entertaining.
The problem with using fresh coconut is that you have to peel off all the inner part before you can grate it. Which is pretty time consuming. I did this once the kid was in bed :P
Once you have all the grated coconut, empty it in to a large bowl and pour the marinade over it, let it soak for 5 minutes or so. Squeeze the juice from the coconut, the dryer the better. Place on to a baking sheet and put in a 325 degree oven, every 10 minutes give it a stir do this for 30 minutes. Let cool. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.
Check out my vegan mayonnaise recipe, great for BLT's!!
Marinade
1/4 cup tamari
1 tbsp liquid smoke
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp Topical Traditions Coconut Oil- melted
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp garlic powder
4 tbsp maple syrup
2-3 tsp sea salt
WOW this looks so delicious! Thanks Kirsten, I'm definitely going to try this :)
ReplyDeleteOh this looks fabulous!
ReplyDeleteWOW! Great idea! I just saw some coconuts on sale at the store too!
ReplyDeleteyum yum yum :-)
ReplyDeleteWOW! This is almost radical!! LOL Love the idea and hope to try this. Haven't hacked a coconut in ages though!
ReplyDeleteBtw, this is my first visit and I love the look of your blog, especially that eye catching banner :)
I do agree that scraping a fresh coconut is so time consuming but very good results though
ReplyDeleteKirsten vs. the Coconut. (Tell it rhyme and you've got a children's book :-) Great post and wonderful recipe. Eat with joy! ~Cleo
ReplyDeleteThank you for following me on Twitter - I have been enjoying my time searching your lovely site for the past 30 minutes or so! =)
ReplyDeletewhat sauce is used for the mayo at aux vivres? I loved that blt, and am so excited to find the bacon recipe!
ReplyDeleteHey Jog Blog, thanks for checking out my post :)
ReplyDeleteThe sauce is a soy based mayo. That BLT is the best! I miss eating there. That is why I googled the coconut bacon recipe, its not the same as Aux Vivres but similar. I am sure you could google soy mayo recipes and find a good one!
Hi Kirsten. Just discovered your blog. Love it! Didn't find a recipe for a BLT on this site...wondering if you sliced the coconut thin instead of grating it, could you use it for a BLT? I don't like processed fake meats so would love to find another route. Hopefully this would work:)
ReplyDeleteHi French :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for loving my blog.The BLT is using the coconut bacon. Grating it is probably much easier than slicing it, coconuts can be tricky little buggers. This recipe works great for BLT's
Anyone know where to get Liquid Smoke in Montreal?
ReplyDeletehey,I just bought Liquid Smoke at the Atwater Market,at Les Douceurs du Marché, for 3.99. It is on the outside of the market next to the Poissonnerie...mmmmm ENJOY!!
ReplyDeleteittakestwotoblog: Most health food stores carry it, ... HealthTree (Pointe-claire and on Cote-St-Luc), Tau in Laval, Greenfield Parc and in/near the Plateau. Also, grocery stores like IGA and Metro may have it. Maxi, Loblaws and Provigo seem to have gotten really dumbed down in terms of variety and specialty foods.
ReplyDeleteOMG this is amazing. We loved aux vivres and the homemade version is fantastic.
ReplyDeleteOh man I haven't had Aux Vivres in years. Thank you for putting it up- now only if I knew how to make the chipatti, I'd have a proper BLT
ReplyDeleteI'm so making this! Toasted or freeze dried coconut has such an awesome flavor that I can imagine being amazing with bacon type flavoring.
ReplyDeleteI want some. I mean, I'd love to make this, but I'd rather someone else makes it and brings it over to my house. Anyone? Anyone??? <<<<<>>>>>
ReplyDelete(there was a "crickets" inside the <<<>>>, btw...)
DeleteHi
ReplyDeleteThanks for this recipe, I absolutely love it!
I made this three times now and made some changes I'm very happy with:
- dried coconut flakes seem to take up the marinade better then fresh coconut
- marinade overnight
- bake in the oven with all the moisture. that requires reducing the salt to about 1.5 tsp.
Quick trick: if you first add the coconut fat and then the 1/4 cup hot water, the fat will melt by itself.
The result is much more sticky and caramelised, also very dark and baconish brown-red in color.
Greetings
Mathias