This unassuming white block in this picture kind of looks like cheese, right? Ricotta? Nope. Paneer? Not really, but close! Mozzarella? Ok, now that’s kind of stretching it (no pun intended). It’s tofu, that soybean cake that everyone loves or hates and it will be the main star of this meal. I have a boyfriend who hates any type of food with the words “vegetarian”, “vegan” or “vegetables” in it. Well, he can eat a few vegetables cooked in a certain way, but otherwise he won’t touch anything green with a 10-foot pole or eat any form of protein that doesn’t come from an animal. Now, I’m not preaching about the importance of vegetarianism/veganism to anyone, but it’s always nice to switch things up a bit, you know? Eating healthy in this day and age can be tricky, especially for a college student stressed for time. However, the tofu scramble I’m making takes only a few minutes of prep/cook time and it’s easy on the wallet!

Simple Tofu Scramble

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 block of tofu (pressed and drained of any excess liquid)

1/2 onion, diced

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 tablespoon light soy sauce

1/4 teaspoon pepper

Olive oil cooking spray (to coat the pan)

This is the basic list of what was in the tofu scramble, but like scrambled eggs, you can add whatever you like to it! Some chopped spinach, tomatoes, or soy meat crumbles would be a good addition. Some people also like to add a dusting of tumeric powder to the tofu to give it an “eggy” appearance, but that’s optional. I decided to add 1/2 cup of soy meat crumbles from Morningstar Farms to my scramble to amp up the protein. For vegetarians/vegans, nutritional yeast can be added for a “cheesy” flavor or any non-dairy cheese would be good.

Directions:

1. On a cutting board, cut up the tofu into bite-sized cubes and place that in a bowl. With a fork, lightly mash it until the tofu starts to look like cottage cheese.

2. Heat a small frying pan on medium high and spray a bit of the olive oil cooking spray into the pan. Once the pan is heated, add the onions and crumbled tofu into the pan. Cook for about 3 to 5 minutes.

3. While cooking the tofu and onion mixture, you can also add your desired ingredients (soy crumbles for me) into the pan and let that cook along.

4. After 3 to 5 minutes of cooking time, add one tablespoon of soy sauce as well as the dried seasonings to the tofu scramble. Now, a tablespoon of soy sauce sounds like a lot, but it distributes quite nicely into the tofu and doesn’t taste salty or overpowering.

5. Plate the tofu scramble and serve it with toast, fruit, oatmeal, or any other breakfast goodie you like. (I used some Italian Pugliaese bread from Costco, sliced it up and sprayed the olive oil. I then griddled it on the pan for crispiness.)

1. One of the recipes is to soak it in rasam(chaaru) and give it as finger food.

To make rasam, take a pan add two spoons of oil. and when it becomes medium hot, add mustard seeds, jeera seeds. When the seeds start to pop, add a pinch of hing (or inguva or LG) add chopped tomatoes, a spoon of rasam powder, tamarind paste and add a little bit of water. In the end add salt, turmeric powder and blocks of tofu. When it is soaked in rasam its tastes a little sour. Kids will love it.

2. The other is you can make it as tofu burgi (like unda burgi)

Take a pan. Put some oil. Add mustard seeds, jeera seeds and when it comes to pop, add onions and when it becomes golden brown, add this mashed tofu. Fry for 2 or 3 minutes, add salt and a pinch of chilli powder (optional) and a pinch of turmeric.

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