Recently, I hosted a raw food pot luck at my home. Talking to everyone, at all levels of involvement with raw food was interesting and enlightening. It is always fun to see what raw food dishes people show up with. One couple brought some jalapeno poppers, made the raw food way. They were very good. I was inspired to take a shot at it and see what I could come up with.
Instead of using green jalapeno’s, I opted for small red cayenne peppers, for the color and the ripeness. The heat is about the same. The filling is made from pine nuts, cashews and a few other ingredients. Eggplant “bacon” tops completes the bite size morsels. There are quite a few recipes out there for eggplant “bacon”. This one was inspired by a trip to the spice shop and a desire to make it quick and easy. It turned out great. I had to fight my daughter to keep enough for the photos!
Pepper Poppers with Pine Nut Filling and “Bacon”
The day before, make the bacon.
Eggplant Bacon
- 1 Eggplant
- 2 T Olive Oil
- 1/4 C Water
- 1 t. Smoked Paprika
- 1/2 t. Ground Chipotle Peppers (I get them pre-ground)
- 2 T Agave
Using a vegetable peeler or mandolin, slice the eggplant into strips about 1/8″ thick. Set aside. Mix together marinade ingredients. Place eggplant in marinade, making sure all is covered. Cover and let soak for 2-3 hours. Dehydrate at 116 for at least 12 hours, or until crisp.
The day of:
Pine Nut Filling
- 1 1/2 C Pine Nuts (presoak for 4-5 hours.)
- 1/2 C Cashews (pre-soak for 4-5 hours)
- 1 1/2 Lemons (juice from)
- 1/4 C Water
- 2 T Nutritional Yeast (not considered raw, but used frequently in raw food recipes)
- 1 T Smoked Paprika
- pinch salt
- 1/2 Red Pepper
Place all ingredients in food processor and process until smooth.
Assembly
- 10 Cayenne Peppers
- Filling
- Eggplant Bacon
Cut peppers in half and remove seeds. I use plastic gloves when doing this. Be careful to not touch your face while doing this. The heat is in the seeds. Fill pepper halves with pine nut “cheese” and top with eggplant bacon. Enjoy!!
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This looks amazing!
Those look great!
Can’t wait to try this recipe.
you are one of the most creative raw-chefs out there!
I tried stuffing de-seeded hot peppers before but the dish came out rather spicy at the end. is there a trick to it?
Peppers are hot by nature. Taking out the seeds helps a ton but they are still going to be spicy.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing this. This is a keeper!
Wow! This made my heart skip a beat. I really miss poppers! I will be trying this out ASAP. Thank you so much.
ok that bacon totally faked me out!!!!!!!
looks so delish.
thanks for the continual inspiration!
deb
Those look so so so good..yum!
Enjoy!
Oh wow, those look fantastic! Always such creative recipe ideas, here!
Brilliant and creative, as always.
I’m going to have to dig out the food processor for this one! Can’t wait.
You are something else. That eggplant “bacon” is amazing! One of these days I am going to have to actually try some of your food.
You are incredibly creative. What a great way to present an appetizer! Fantastic.
This is my first time commenting here! Love your site! New to raw- incorporating more and more into my diet. This recipe sound delish- just made some eggplant bacon the other day! Will have to give this a go.
Thank you for sharing. Looking forward to listening in on your radio interview. 
Okay, I lied- maybe not the first time- but it sure felt like it! LOL!
Whoa, these look amazing. Will definitely have to try these for a party in the future.
This looks great, but just a few things. One, chipotle peppers are not raw, soooo the “bacon” is not raw so be careful who you serve these too, a 100% raw person might be pretty upset. Two, a cayenne pepper is a little misrepresented, as it usually is a pretty hot, maybe a sweet pepper would have been a better way to say it. I’m totally ready to try this though.
You are right. Chipotle peppers are smoked. The bacon calls for 1/4 teaspoon of the powdered form in the marinade. It is for flavor, not nutrition. By the time you eat the bacon, you are probably getting a couple of grains of it. But yes, if someone is 100% raw you might want to inform them. Also, the peppers are called cayenne peppers in the store that I bought them. They are hot. Not eye watering hot, but they are spicy.
I can’t believe that is n ot real BACON!!! What a great job you did!!!
The bacon looks incredible. Super excited try this on an AELT!
i made the bacon out of this because it sounded so good. and i use to like bacon when i ate meat, whew, gosh its been almost 5 years, anyways i did not have chipotle peppers so i used spicy red, still very lovely! yummy!