I thought this veggie bacon, lettuce, and tomato jam, sandwich was to die for! The picture doesn’t do it justice. So the other night, we’re watching Diners Drive-Ins and Dives and they were showing a bacon, lettuce and tomato (BLT) sandwich from The Barking Dog Cafe in Indianapolis that had a twist: tomato jam. Yum. I decided it was time to make some homemade vegetarian bacon since none of the store stuff is very good and try out some tomato jam. I don’t remember the actual recipe on the show, but it had a base of diced tomatoes, vinegar and sugar.

I found this seitan bacon recipe and it looks a bit complicated, but it really is easy. The recipe is from The Gentle Chef and it is quite tasty!

Homemade Seitan Bacon
Dough 1 Dry Ingredients
1 cup vital wheat gluten
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
2 teaspoons granulated onion
1 and 1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

Dough 1 Wet Ingredients
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons maple syrup (you can substitute brown sugar)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons liquid smoke (I used hickory)
1 tablespoon tomato paste (original calls for red miso paste but I didn’t have any, if you’re also using tomato paste, add a little salt since tomato paste isn’t as salty as red miso)
1 tablespooin vegetarian Worcestershire Sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil

Dough 2 Dry Ingredients
⅓ cup vital wheat gluten
1 T garbanzo bean flour
1 tsp garlic powder

Dough 2 Wet Ingredients
1/2 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 315-325 degrees (original recipe says 325 degrees but I felt that 315 degrees was better in our oven and it cooked perfectly).
2. Mix dough 1 dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately, then mix together. Split into 3 pieces.
3. Mix dough 2 dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately, then mix together. Split into 2 pieces.
4. Press one piece of dough 1 to 1/4 of an inch thick on a big piece of foil, then top with a layer of dough 2 same thickness. Repeat with remaining pieces, alternating between dough 1 and dough 2. Form into a rectangle, wrap with the foil and bake for 1 1/2 hours.
5. When ready to use in a recipe, slice and pan fry in a little olive oil.

Spicy Tomato Jam
1 can petite diced tomatoes
1/2 onion finely chopped
1 trader joes frozen garlic cube (or one garlic clove minced)
3 tablespoons apple cider or white vinegar or a combination (I used 2 apple and 1 white)
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes
Salt

• Throw all ingredient in a little sauce pan and cook over medium low heat for 30-40 minutes until it gets nice and gooey and there isn’t really any juice left.

Vegetarian BLT w/ Homemade Seitan Bacon and Spicy Tomato Jam
Homemade seitan bacon
Sourdough bread
Mayonaise
Lettuce (I used green leaf)
Spicy tomato jam

1. Slice and pan fry some of the seitan bacon.
2. Toast your sourdough bread (I like mine just a little toasted, my husband likes his crunchy!)
3. Spread your mayo onto both pieces of bread (don’t be shy!), top one piece with lettuce, then spicy tomato jam, and then seitan bacon, finishing up with the other piece of bread. Slice and devour!