[MYSustaZen] Yen's Vegan Bacon From Scratch 01

Hello everyone, this is my first Instructable and what inspired this was a pair of female vegan contestants from a cooking competition. The tasters can hardly tell it is not real meat!!!

As the main ingredient is coconut meat which is widely found in Malaysia here, i must try this!!!!

It is not easy though. Shaved coconut meat is not sold in any store here. Old coconut meat is often sold in grated/dessicated or coconut milk form

After a few trials and a lot researches online, i was about to cut with grinder and then by accident, i found out how to remove the meat nicely and then start experimenting with the flavours. I was supposed to cut the shell with grinder the other day then i had something else to attend to that day so i popped the coconut halves back into the fridge at the chiller section and left it forgotten for a week or so...then, the meat became so dry and shrunked so much that it easily detached from the shell.

Then, i tried freezing it and here it is, i would love to share with all of you my journey with this local fruit processed in foreign way. Next i will try with Jackfruit frills =)

Enjoy!!

Love, from Malaysia

Supplies

The tools needed

1) Flatter / Not-too-curvy Spoons - 1 big 1 small

2) Knife

3) Peeler - i had big and small but 1 is good enough

4) Cloth/Glove, to protect your hand while holding the coconut when you do the scoring/ holding the spoon to scoop the meat

5) Toaster/ Oven

6) Dehydrator *Optional

Step 1: Step 1: Scoop Out the Frozen Coconut Meat

PREPARATION..since my country doesnt sell them

1) BUY 'YOUNGER' OLD BROWN COCONUTS

- check and do not buy coconuts with roots/nodes sticking out, the meat is harder to remove and tougher

2) ASK THE VENDOR TO CRACK IT HALF or you do it yourself

3) FREEZE THE COCONUT 6 hours to OVERNIGHT (yes, in the freezer) without the aged coconut water if you are cracking if yourself

- aged coconut water IS NOT the same with the young fresh green coconut juice, this, you can use it boil soup

4) After that, let the frozen coconut 'rest' / thaw/defrost at room temperature for about half an hour

5) Remove excess water from evaporation

SCOOPING THE MEAT (the real deal)

After the tedious works, here comes the real thing.....

BEFORE SCORING, CHECK IF the coconut has the three darker spots/holes, the knife might penetrate them and cut you. Only one side of each coconut has them. Wear thick glove or protect with cloth

1) Score on the meat, dividing it into 3 triangles or more, if the coconut is bigger in size, for beginners you can score out a narrow drain first for easier start until you get the hang of it. Each piece of meat needs to be big enough for easier peeling later on.

Score down deep until you reach the shell

2) From the mouth of the coconut half, stick in your knife in between the meat and shell layer. There will be another brown skin sticking onto the white meat so your knife should be between the skin and the shell.

3) Slit around the whole circumference about half cm deep for your spoon to go in later. To do this, slot in and tilt the knife and lightly move the knife to detach the meat off the shell. You will hear soft crack sound. As you detach, slide the knife down slowly and repeat.

4) After that, use the smaller spoon to go deeper but not to the end, you will finish with bigger spoon. *Hold the lower part of the spoon for more strength, protect hand with cloth/ wear glove

You can try with just one spoon throughout the scooping whatever works for you. The shape of the spoon also matters. I'm a little particular of the shape of each meat section so i used 2 spoons of different size. =)

5) Once the whole meat is removed, you may want to rinse or wash it but this is optional as you can do it after the next step. *TAKE NOTE : DO NOT soak in water

Alternatively, you can try removing the meat this way if your country doesnt sell them, i have not tried before, though as i think the freezing method is safer for me

1) Break the shell, with hammer, grinder, it is done so at Industrial scale

2) Burn the fruit over fire, maybe this dries the meat and makes it shrink and easier to remove

Step 2: Peeling the Skin and Meat

1) Take one section/triangle of the meat, peel off the brown skin. I started from the sides with an angle/ bevel then work inwards

2) Lightly rinse off/ wash away the skins *DO NOT SOAK because this will add moisture and increase baking time. Now the meat is white as snow

3) In Picture 3, the meat appears to have gaps/ cuts all over, this might be due to 'aging' which i'm not sure but will not affect the taste, in fact, this gives a nice flaky outcome

4) Peel the meat sideways to the desired length. Here, i switched to another peeler which peels out thicker piece/ shaving of meat for better texture. I think it is possible to use a mandolin but you need to freeze the meat again to do that.

5) When i do a lot of batches at the same time, i weigh, season and toast One batch at a time so i pop the others into the fridge first. I found out that the shavings will get dehydrated and cooks faster later. You may try dehydrating them with a dehydrator.

Step 3: Season/Bake/Toast the Meat

SEASONING

1) For Original Flavour, you can sprinkle a little sugar or salt or pepper, for me i just toast as it is

2) For Heavier Seasoning, it is basically like marinating meat just, this is not real meat

I'm a Malaysian Chinese and go for more subtle and simpler taste and less char.

For every 100-120g of Coconut Shavings, I used

1 tbs Vegetarian Mushroom Sauce - for non Vegan/Vegetarian, opt for Oyster sauce

1/2 tbs Soya sauce * Optional

1/2 tsp Sugar /Brown sugar

1/2 tsp White Pepper * Optional

3/4tsp Paprika Powder

There are many other recipes online to explore. Let's explore together ^^ For extra crispiness, add more sugar but i wanted it to be low calorie and healthy so i just added the sugar for taste.

TOASTING/ BAKING

1) Preheat the toaster for 15-20mins at 170 d Celsius

2) Spread out the shavings on aluminium tray and toast for 1 hour at 130 d C, flipping every 20mins, if seasoned, 15mins.

then another hour at 80 d C, flipping every 30mins

Once the coconut shaving is done, you will see it will become more translucent

The cooking time depends on the level of moisture of the shavings, they cook faster if you pre-dehydrate them

Colour is too pale for you? Heat it until it is up to your liking! =)

3) Let cool and keep in container

Alternatively, you can try to

1) Fry

2) Air Fry

3) Dehydrate them using dehydrator