the tales of a new vegan.

when I was a wee vegetarian, I was convinced I could cook tofu. all the restaurants I ate it at had it down to a science — it was crispy and golden on the outside (without being deep fried) and “meaty” on the inside. serve it with a nice sauce or in a wonderful stirfry and ta-da, you’ll never need any faux-meat products from the freezer section ever again. the wonderful thing about tofu is that it soaks up the flavor of whatever you use to, uh, flavor it with. spices, marinades, sauces, oh my! so, yeah, I remember buying tofu every week, freezing it, pressing it, slicing it and frying it. and every week, I was disappointed. I remember my mother telling me to “just give up” and so I did. I moved on to tempeh and TVP and cried into my pillow every night at the loss of tofu in my life.

until one day, I went to Milwaukee to hang out with my wonderful friend stephanie (hi, stephanie!) and she took me to one of her favorite places to eat, Beans & Barley. it was there I had a “tofu scrambler” (mind you, this was before I owned any vegan cookbooks, and all vegetarian cookbooks recommend “egg whites” for breakfast — those sissies!), and it was phenomenal. keeping in the same vein as scrambled eggs (eggs were something I always tried to force myself to eat for the protein, but I always thought about exactly what I was eating and became grossed out beyond belief), but with different spices and vegggies, I quickly realized that the idea of the tofu scramble was a blank canvas, waiting for me to experiment with it.

now, that said, I’ve never used a recipe for such a thing, though I know Isa Chandra Moskowitz has an amazing one in Vegan with a Vengeance. so, use a recipe if you are one of those people that needs everything measured out for them, but this is something where you can play around with it and find out what you really like. this, however, is how I do my tofu scramble:

first, I cut up my selected veggies. generally, this is onions, bell peppers and mushrooms. I sautee those in some oil until they’re soft and your onions are almost translucent. then you take your firm or extra firm tofu that has been pressed (please, please, please learn how to press and drain your tofu! it makes everything so much better) and you just crumble it in over the veggies. consistency is a preference thing–I like mine to be really fine, but some people are okay with chunks. then, you add your spices. as for me, I use salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder (this is because I always forget to add garlic in with the veggies) and turmeric. some people are turned off by the taste of turmeric (and if that is you, I’m sorry, as it’s a wonderful spice and boasts tons of health benefits!), but I love it. turmeric acts as a spice AND a coloring agent in this dish, as it gives your tofu the yellow-ness of eggs without all the ickiness or high cholesterol. so, you continue to fry this up for 5ish minutes (I like mine to get a little brown and crispy, but again, that’s me) and then you serve it along your breakfast favorites (potatoes for me! hasbrowns, diner fries, and so on). it’s a fast, cheap, easy, filling, healthy breakfast that most vegans love. for me, it’s become a staple in my diet and I couldn’t imagine my mornings without it.