Tof-u and Tof-me: Scrambled Tofu Revisited
Scrambled tofu is probably one of the most mundane vegan recipes there is. Go ahead and roll your eyes when you open a cookbook and see the obligatory entry, I know I do, even at my own. But for a new vegan it’s one of the most important dishes to learn. And for me, even though my inaugural tofu was scrambled 20 years ago, it’s still a staple.
It’s one of those things that changes with you, kind of like a culinary mood ring. My scramble used to feel incomplete without mushrooms, but lately I prefer a simpler texture, even onions aren’t a necessity anymore. I went through a broccoli era, and used to take a hardline anti-red pepper stance, but lately the cruciferous is out and nightshades are in.
But you don’t have to stop at breakfast, or limit yourself to a plate of scramble and hashbrowns. Look at scrambled tofu with fresh eyes! Here’s a few ways to spruce up your scramble, or use up your leftovers.
Serve in a squash bowl: Serve in half a baked squash (acorn or carnival would work perfectly.) Caramelized onions would be nice, too.
Breakfast burritos: Wrap up with potatoes, fresh salsa and guacamole.
Add to mac and cheese: Use up leftover scramble (or make some scramble just for the occasion!) by adding it to your favorite vegan mac and cheese recipe.
Lettuce wraps: Tuck scramble into lettuce, serve with fresh tomatoes and drizzle with vinaigrette
Make a sandwich: Not the most ingenious idea, but one of my favorites! A scramble sandwich with avocado, red onion and sprouts.
Make a knish: Make potato knishes and add a layer of scramble
Stuff peppers: Mix with a can of black beans and some salsa. Stuff into red peppers, bake and top with a little vegan cheese at the end.
Crepe filling: Serve in a crepe, with a vegan hollandaise sauce.
And in case you don’t have enough scrambled tofu recipes in your repertoire, here’s another for good measure (from Vegan Brunch.)
Basic Scrambled Tofu
Serves 4
For me, a basic scramble should have nice big pieces in it. It’s crumbled, yes, but not completely in crumbles. Just kind of torn apart and then broken up a bit when cooking in the pan. The flavor should be lip smacking and just a bit salty, but not overly so. Garlic, some cumin, a little thyme - that is the base. From there you can do countless variations using whatever is in your fridge that morning.
So this is my basic recipe. When you want a trustworthy and easy to modify standard scramble, this makes a great go-to.
Spice blend:
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed with your fingers
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced (or more, to taste)
1 pound extra-firm tofu, drained
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
Fresh black pepper to taste
First stir the spice blend together in a small cup. Add water and mix. Set aside.
Preheat a large, heavy bottomed pan over medium high heat. Saute the garlic in olive oil for about a minute. Break the tofu apart into bite sized pieces and saute for about 10 minutes, using a spatula to stir often. Get under the tofu when you are stirring, scrape the bottom and don’t let it stick to the pan, that is where the good, crispy stuff is. Use a thin metal spatula to get the job done, a wooden or plastic one won’t really cut it. The tofu should get browned on at least one side, but you don’t need to be too precise about it. The water should cook out of it and not collect too much at the bottom of the ban. If that is happening, turn the heat up and let the water evaporate.
Add the spice blend and mix to incorporate. Add the nutritional yeast and fresh black pepper. Cook for about 5 more minutes. Serve warm.
You can include these additions to your scramble by themselves or in combination with one another.
Broccoli - Cut about one cup into small florettes, thinly slice the stems. Add along with the tofu.
Onion - Finely chop one small onion. Add along with the garlic, and cook for about 5 minutes, until translucent. Proceed with recipe.
Red Peppers - Remove stem and seed, finely chop one red pepper. Add along with the garlic and cook for about 5 minutes. Proceed with recipe.
Mushrooms - Thinly slice about a cup of mushrooms. Add along with the tofu.
Olives - Chop about 1/3 a cup of sliced olives. Add towards the end of cooking, after mixing in the nutritional yeast.
Spinach - Add about 1 cup of chopped spinach towards the end of cooking, after mixing in the nutritional yeast. Cook until completely wilted.
Carrots - Grate half of an average sized carrot into the scramble towards the end of cooking. This is a great way to add color to the scramble.
Avocado - I almost always have avocado with my scramble. Just peel and slice it and serve on top.
October 9th, 2009 at 7:12 am
I don’t make tofu scramble often enough. It’s so simple that I forget about it, but it’s so good! Thanks for the reminder, I’ll make a scramble this weekend with some roasted root veg.
October 9th, 2009 at 10:01 am
aaahhhh…I LOVE a good scramble!
October 9th, 2009 at 11:23 am
It’s possible that I’m just blind, but I don’t think I see any *tofu* in this recipe.
How much? Which kind?
October 9th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
Funny thing, I never made tofu scramble until I moved to Portland. I was never interested it making it until I started seeing it on breakfast menus around town and realized I could just make it at home! I usually don’t add anything other than a lot of garlic and mushrooms. Maybe spinach. You are crazy with your carrots and onions!
October 9th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
I featured this recipe with the spinach option on my blog Monday!
October 9th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
one of my faves is a spin on the sandwich front: add all the things you usually would have for an egg salad or tuna salad sandwich (veganaise, celery, pickles?) to cold leftover scramble and you get a “chicken or the egg?” salad sandwich.
October 9th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
i am psychic! i just ate scrambled tofu and as i was clicking on the blog link thought “i wonder if isa blogged about scrambled tofu” and here it is. neato.
October 9th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
I love those ideas! My go-to scramble I totally stole from a Seattle cafe - green curry scramble with turmeric, tomato chunks and green onions, served on buttered toast. Mmmmm…
October 9th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
Tofu scramble is a must in my house! I have altered though for my sons (6yrs and 2yrs) so that they enjoy it. I cube the tofu for little fingers and forks and use Nutritional Yeast, crushed black pepper, Mrs. Dash and Season All. We eat it for breakfast and dinner: over rice, noodles with veggies etc. I don’t know what we would do with out the basic tofu scramble.
October 9th, 2009 at 5:55 pm
Fine, I’ll write a post on cubes vs. mush. You convinced me. I was really hoping you’d dig a little deeper in the philosophic side of this.
October 9th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
[…] vegan or dairy-avoider has their own version of the silken tofu mousse. It’s kind of like tofu scramble: the non-recipe recipe that everyone has a recipe for. This is my favorite, but I kind of want one […]
October 10th, 2009 at 3:32 am
Tofu scrambles were one of the first and hardest dishes I learned. I came to realize that I like it super simple too. At most, I’ll put some sort or bac’n bits. Though, the puttanesca scramble is an exception to this rule.
October 10th, 2009 at 3:44 am
kimmykokonut- onions and carrots are crazy?! you crazy! :o) i do put carrots and onions (and cremini mushrooms) in anything i saute, which includes tofu scram.
isa- i just noticed today at work that we (Paradox) have no scrambles on our menu. does Vita? i don’t think the old owners (that owned the both) ever had it on the menu and the new owners haven’t added any. i suppose they figure vegans get enough scrambles at all the less-veg-friendly places. mamakim’s running joke when we go out for breakfast is always “karla, what tofu scramble are you going to get?”
October 10th, 2009 at 4:40 am
Karla, you work at Paradox? There are scrambles there, the number 1 and number 2. Vita has lots of scrambles, too. Are you sure you work there? Are you sure you live in Portland?
October 10th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
Do you know that I’ve only made a tofu scramble once? And I think it’s documented on the ppk.
I think that means I’m not really vegan.
October 10th, 2009 at 8:19 pm
Good timing. I was just thinking about a tofu scramble stuffed into blue taco shells, but a breakfast burrito sounds good too.
October 11th, 2009 at 10:45 pm
I’m going to have to find ou what a knish is! Other than that those sound like delicious ways to have fun with tofu scramble.
October 14th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
I just made some scramble with scallions, red pepper and shredded carrot, and I substituted 1 T of soy sauce for the water with the spices. I used it as the filling for Chinese steamed buns. Num!
October 15th, 2009 at 7:16 am
Hey Isa, I made a tofu scramble with some soy chorizo, and some peppers and onions, it was amazing! Possibly the best scramble I have had yet. It said on the package to serve with eggs (no thanks!) so I figured why not a tofu scramble instead!
October 18th, 2009 at 12:20 am
those ideas sound great. I’ve never actually made a tofu scramble. Is it possible to do without nutritional yeast, since that’s not an ingredient I generally have around?
October 23rd, 2009 at 3:01 pm
Adding avocado! - BRILLIANT!
October 26th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
I love revisiting the classics, especially when there are multiple ways to use it.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:05 am
Article Tool Chest
November 18th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
I never get tired of tofu scrambles. Thanks for the ideas.
December 5th, 2009 at 1:19 am
Inspire by the blog post, I made tofu scramble-potato breakfast burritos for dinner - which I guess means we ate brunch.
February 13th, 2010 at 2:45 pm
The absolute best tofu to use for scrambles is found in the bulk section of your co-op. Here in AZ, we get a brand called “Sacramento” which is also the kind we used to buy living in Oakland. Trust me on this, buying fresh extra firm tofu will make you CRAVE all thing tofu. We eat scrambles at least once or twice per week.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/sacramento-tofu-company-sacramento
February 16th, 2010 at 6:31 pm
Great tips. I especially think the “letting the water cook out of it” is key. In our vegan home, that’s when we know brunch is ready!
Probably the most useless, yet hilarious, scramble recipe is ” steda eggs,” which can be found in Marilyn Diamond’s American Vegetarian Cookbook. Without permission from the author, I’ll post this special recipe (which was, according to Marilyn, “sweeping the nation” in 1990):
step 1: buy Fantastic Foods Tofu Scramble
step 2: Add to tofu
Brilliant! Funny thing is, I can totally remember the days when I perceived tofu scramble as impossible to make without the Fantastic Foods magical spice mix.
April 30th, 2010 at 3:25 am
hi
I am real encouraged with the mentation and don’t search like adding anything in it. It
===========
anne
ISA Info
May 17th, 2010 at 4:37 pm
Tofu brouillé
Manger moins d’animaux, plus de tofu tout ça, tu voudrais bien, mais tu n’es pas de type végétarien/ne. Et encore moins cuistot. C’est là que j’interviens. En effet, quoi de plus concret pour sauver le monde qu’une bonne bouffe ?
August 8th, 2010 at 12:12 am
This is the best post on this topic i have ever read. Best of all, you’ll quickly realize how much easier your life is once you realize that you don’t need to plan a vacation – you let your all inclusive honeymoon simply unfold as the romantic escape and celebration that you always dreamed it would be.