tofu scramble, pt. 2
Scramble war!
When Summer told me she was going to do a post about tofu scramble, my first thought was- "Man, have I got some things to say about tofu." I think most people can remember their first experience with tofu pretty vividly- it's not a food that inspires lukewarm reactions, after all. A lot of the people I know who love tofu fondly recall their first DISGUSTING plate of soggy, ill-prepared tofu. The first time I tried it was at my best friend's house in the 8th grade. They were a hippie family and their house always smelled like cumin and beans and other hippie stuff. They were very nice people but I hated eating dinner at their house- they always had gummy brown rice instead of the fluffy white stuff I was accustomed to, they had pepperjack cheese instead of american, and it seemed like they were always eating lentils or beans or something else I didn't like. One night, they offered me a plate of tofu stir fry, and I went ahead and gave it a try. Biting (or should I say, slurping) into that first bite of tofu was- to say the least, not a pleasant experience for my pre-teen palate. It took me years to go back and give it another try. Eventually I discovered deep fried tofu, which is a revelation that most vegetarians experience at one point- complete with angel choirs and sparkly heavenly light.
I still can't get my parents to eat it, by the way.
Anyway, I know this is our fancy food blog where we post beautiful photos of lovely food to show the world how much we love food and blah blah blah blah- but let's be honest. My kitchen was a wreck this morning:
Ever since I went on my health kick a few months ago, I've been eating the same breakfast every day. Yes- every day, for like 4 months straight. It's good! A bowl of vanilla granola with bananas, plain yogurt, and some honey! Our grocery shopping got off-kilter this week, though- and I ran out of granola yesterday. Boo! This morning I was poking around my kitchen trying to find something to nibble on, when I saw the other half of the twin-pack of tofu that I pulled apart to make my lasagna the other day.
A scramble! Of course. I could use up some of my veggies (all we bought this week was veggies. we're recovering from a southern food binge.) and still eat a nice healthy breakfast.
Summer's tofu scramble was just tofu, sort of in the style of scrambled eggs. I prefer a bunch of veggies in mine! Usually it's just whatever I have in the fridge- standards are broccoli, carrot, and zucchini. And onion and garlic, of course.
I sauteed the onions and garlic for a moment before adding the tofu. I like to season it with chili powder, salt & pepper, and some turmeric for color. I also added a pinch of cumin just for a bit of smokiness. I cook the tofu for a few minutes to firm it up a little before I add the veggies, or else the added moisture from the vegetables will just make the tofu soggy.
I like fresh tomato and some grated parmesan on top of my scrambles, and in a perfect world, I'd have had some fresh basil or a dollop of sour cream to add, but I didn't have either laying around. It was delicious as it was, though- served with some Dave's Killer Bread! (It needs an exclamation point. If punctuation existed that made the sound of a sweet guitar riff, that's what I'd have used instead.)
When Summer told me she was going to do a post about tofu scramble, my first thought was- "Man, have I got some things to say about tofu." I think most people can remember their first experience with tofu pretty vividly- it's not a food that inspires lukewarm reactions, after all. A lot of the people I know who love tofu fondly recall their first DISGUSTING plate of soggy, ill-prepared tofu. The first time I tried it was at my best friend's house in the 8th grade. They were a hippie family and their house always smelled like cumin and beans and other hippie stuff. They were very nice people but I hated eating dinner at their house- they always had gummy brown rice instead of the fluffy white stuff I was accustomed to, they had pepperjack cheese instead of american, and it seemed like they were always eating lentils or beans or something else I didn't like. One night, they offered me a plate of tofu stir fry, and I went ahead and gave it a try. Biting (or should I say, slurping) into that first bite of tofu was- to say the least, not a pleasant experience for my pre-teen palate. It took me years to go back and give it another try. Eventually I discovered deep fried tofu, which is a revelation that most vegetarians experience at one point- complete with angel choirs and sparkly heavenly light.
I still can't get my parents to eat it, by the way.
Anyway, I know this is our fancy food blog where we post beautiful photos of lovely food to show the world how much we love food and blah blah blah blah- but let's be honest. My kitchen was a wreck this morning:
Ever since I went on my health kick a few months ago, I've been eating the same breakfast every day. Yes- every day, for like 4 months straight. It's good! A bowl of vanilla granola with bananas, plain yogurt, and some honey! Our grocery shopping got off-kilter this week, though- and I ran out of granola yesterday. Boo! This morning I was poking around my kitchen trying to find something to nibble on, when I saw the other half of the twin-pack of tofu that I pulled apart to make my lasagna the other day.
A scramble! Of course. I could use up some of my veggies (all we bought this week was veggies. we're recovering from a southern food binge.) and still eat a nice healthy breakfast.
Summer's tofu scramble was just tofu, sort of in the style of scrambled eggs. I prefer a bunch of veggies in mine! Usually it's just whatever I have in the fridge- standards are broccoli, carrot, and zucchini. And onion and garlic, of course.
I sauteed the onions and garlic for a moment before adding the tofu. I like to season it with chili powder, salt & pepper, and some turmeric for color. I also added a pinch of cumin just for a bit of smokiness. I cook the tofu for a few minutes to firm it up a little before I add the veggies, or else the added moisture from the vegetables will just make the tofu soggy.
I like fresh tomato and some grated parmesan on top of my scrambles, and in a perfect world, I'd have had some fresh basil or a dollop of sour cream to add, but I didn't have either laying around. It was delicious as it was, though- served with some Dave's Killer Bread! (It needs an exclamation point. If punctuation existed that made the sound of a sweet guitar riff, that's what I'd have used instead.)
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