I do not even want to write what this actually is. It sounds altogether too unappealing. I know that some people will even click on this to see what it is, some will read the recipe out of curiosity; most will click right on out again. (Cue creaking door, tumbleweed etc) So I am just filling out the lines for a bit until the title no longer appears in my Facebook newsfeed “snapshot”. It’s all about teasing. Or is it that I don’t want to be teased? Alright, I think I am good to go now. Okay. ready? Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you….the Tofu scramble!
“Untitled”
There. Is anyone still with me?
Tofu is one of those foods that I buy from time to time to see if I still dislike it. And it goes like this….”Yep. still dislike it. Why do I buy this stuff? ” the rest of the block that I have cut into 8 pieces goes into the freezer, and is used up slowly. Very sloooowly. You see, for me, it’s not the flavour. It has a mild flavour that I neither deeply dislike nor especially like. It’s a texture thing. It’s so….spongy. Just that word seems wrong to apply to a food.In fact, most people that like it, like it because it soaks up any flavour marinade very easily (think “sponge”. No, don’t actually)
But I want to like it! Not because I think I need to eat it to be healthy, but I keep happening upon recipes that I think sound good. “Oooh, that sounds good.I think I could like that. I’ll buy some more.” And then….”Yep. still don’t really like this stuff”. And so on.
To counteract the texture thing I go for recipes that work round that. Like recipes that blitz it (Vegan quiche: I made one here. I liked that. So did Isaac. Didn’t get it past anyone else!) Or, today, another trick is to scramble it up. Because you see, I had 2 small pieces of tofu in the freezer (1/4 block) and I wanted it out! So I decided to do one of those tofu scrambles all the vegans are whipping up all over the web.
One Google search and a few minutes later I had my scramble. As you can see it looks kinda-somewhat like scrambled eggs. Let me assure you it does not taste of scrambled eggs. But it’s not half bad. The first mouthful I thought “mmmm…well, it’s okay I guess.” (I’m not selling this very well am I?) but each mouthful after that grew on me increasingly. It definitely has some potential.
Mine was made like this:
- 1/2T extra virgin olive oil
- 1T water
- a small chunk of chopped red onion
- 1/4 t salt
Saute up the above until soft. Crumble in
- 1/4 block of tofu frozen and thawed
- 1/2 t garlic granules
- 1/4 t cumin
- 1/4t turmeric (I had run out. It makes it yellower)
- 1T nutritional yeast (NOT optional in my opinion)
Mash with a fork and finally wilt in some babyleaf spinach.
Next time (yes, I will be repeating) I would tweak it. Here are some suggestions.
- Mine was nice, but a bit under seasoned. Other suggested seasonings are soy sauce/tamari, curry powder, a pinch of veg bouillon of your choice, a squeeze of tomato puree (Here is a recipe that looks good by the way)
- Mine was a little dry. More water would help, but this won’t help flavour. I suggest sauteeing up more veggies, like red pepper, mushrooms, tomato etc
- Mine needed a bit of fatty mouth-feel in my opinion. Here are some possible ways to add fat. Cashew cream, 1-2T vegan cream cheese, 1-2T organic cream cheese, 1 egg. Did I just say cheese and egg?! Indeed, you may not be making this because you are vegan, you may simply wish to transition over to more vegetable protein. I do not eat loads of eggs but I do enjoy them very much on occasion. Choose extremely well-sourced eggs. Hint- a local farm where you can see the hens roaming.
- Topped with chives would be delicious.
And so it goes that I will be buying some tofu later. And this time, it won’t take me a year to eat it.
I might even title the post next time.
Loving Leaves 