The tofu in this spicy breakfast tofu scramble is meant to replace the egg in a similar egg based breakfast, hence the “scramble” in the name. Tofu doesn’t have a very strong taste and the spices and sy sauce in this recipe help to create the overall flavour of the dish.
Using Himalayan Black Salt (Kala Namak) with Tofu
Using Himalayan black salt helps to create that sulphur like flavour that we associate with eggs. Adding this to tofu can help add a nice flavour to the tofu that is similar to eggs.
It’s not an essential ingredient in this recipe. It’s not available in my local supermarket and I only sourced it from the local health shop recently, so up until then, did not include it in this dish. I do recommend getting some if you can get your hands on it. Since it’s a salt, it also keeps for a very long time.
Ingredients for this Breakfast Tofu Scramble
- Tofu
- Cherry tomatoes
- Red pepper (can choose a different colour)
- Baby spinach
- Garlic
- Onion
- Chilli (keep seeds for extra heat)
- Turmeric
- Cumin
- Smoked paprika
- Soya sauce
- Himalayan Black Salt (Kala Namak)
- Nutritional yeast
- Oil
How to Make this Breakfast Tofu Scramble
First you start by sautéing the onion with the oil in a large pan for a few minutes until soft. Then add the garlic and cook for another minute.
Next drain as much water out of the tofu as possible. I like to make a slit in the packaging and squeeze the tofu while still in the packaging to drain out as much water as possible. Then crumble/break the tofu into pieces with your hands and place into the pan. You can also cut into bite sized cubes instead if you prefer.
Mix the tofu around the pan. Next the mushrooms, tomatoes, red pepper, soy sauce, Himalayan black salt, turmeric, cumin, chilli and the smoked paprika and stir regularly for another five minutes, keeping on a medium to medium high heat.
Add the washed spinach and stir in to help the spinach wilt. Keep for another two minutes or so until the spinach has wilted.
Add the nutritional yeast, stir in, and then remove the pan from the heat. Serve with some good sourdough bread.
Variations for this Dish
If you like mushrooms, adding a variety of more exotic mushroom types really enhances this meal. This may require a trip a trip your local specialist food store, although many supermarkets now have more varieties of mushrooms available. I’m a big fan of shiitake mushrooms if I can get them. Eating mushrooms is associated with numerous positive health benefits such as being protective against heart disease.
If you don’t have fresh chilli, you can also add a little chilli powder instead. If you are not a fan of spice, you can leave the chilli out altogether. If using a fresh chilli, its godto know how spicy the variety is that you are using, since they can vary widely. Leaving the seeds in can give you a serious spice kick.
As mentioned, Himalayan black salt helps to give that egg like sulphur flavour to the dish, but its not the easiest ingredient to get hold off, and can easily be left out.
Nutritional Yeast
If you’re not familiar with nutritional yeast, its a dried inactive yeast that is added to food. It gives a cheesy taste and also creates a cheesy texture when heated, and its often added to meals in the place of dairy to give a cheesy flavour.
It provides an additional cheesy flavour to this dish, however can easily be omitted if you don’t have it available. It’s not available in supermarkets near me, so usually involves a run to the health food shop.
To Make this Recipe Gluten Free
It’s really easy to make this dish gluten free. Just make sure to use a gluten free tamari, in place of the soy sauce. Serve with gluten free bread, rather than regular sourdough.
A High Protein Breakfast
Choosing a breakfast option that includes tofu is one way of getting plenty of protein for your first meal of the day. This is especially true of you choose a plant based option for breakfast since there are not a whole lot of high protein plant based breakfast options. Tofu is high in protein and it can also be a great source of calcium.
This breakfast tofu scramble contains around 30g of protein per person, without including the protein from the sourdough bread, or whatever you serve this with, so can form part of a high protein breakfast.
Breakfast Tofu Scramble with Spinach and Mushrooms
Ingredients
- 400 g tofu
- 120 g mushrooms (chopped)
- 60 g baby spinach (washed)
- 1 red pepper (chopped)
- 20 cherry tomatoes (halved or quartered)
- 1 tbsp soy sauce (or tamari)
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 small onion
- 2 tsp turmeric
- 2 tsp cumin
- 3 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 chili (or a little chilli powder)
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1/2 tsp Himalayan black salt
Instructions
- Add the oil to a pan along with the onion to a pan on a medium/high heat. Sauté for about 3 minutes until the onions soften. Add the garlic and cook for another 30 seconds, ensuring the garlic doesn't burn.
- Drain the tofu well and crumble the tofu into the pan with your hands.
- Add the mushrooms, tomatoes, red pepper, soy sauce, Himalayan black salt, turmeric, cumin, chilli and the smoked paprika and stir regularly for another five minutes, keeping on a medium to medium high heat.
- Add the spinach, bring the heat down to a medium heat for another couple of minutes until the spinach has wilted down.
- Stir in the nutritional yeast, then remove from the heat.
- Season with some black pepper and serve with some good sourdough bread.
1 comment