Low Fat Vegan Deluxe Dijon Tofu Scramble With Veggies

Deluxe Dijon Tofu Scramble With Mushrooms, Broccoli, Pepper and Zucchini

This is by far the best tofu scramble I have ever tasted, including at vegetarian restaurants. It is also the first scramble I have ever made personally. I was really going for something that would be savory and flavourful and have some colour and dynamic to it and not like a plain tofu only style scramble. I guess I wanted to go big or go home, and dove right in.

So I searched around and found great inspiration from my friend Malloreigh’s Semi Famous Tofu Scramble. She puts tons of veggies in her scramble, and I agree it works. So I have made this recipe below A LOT!!! I of course, took out the oil, switched to light coconut milk, and changed some of the seasonings to make this a low fat vegan chef (and Dr. Mcdougall) approved version. I think you will enjoy it just fine without the oil.

Every time someone wants a special breakfast, I make this. My mom and her husband even love it and they are new to tofu and not even vegan. If you’re used to eating eggs, let me tell you this tastes BETTER than eggs because it’s so flavourful, you will think salt and pepper eggs are boring next time you have them.

Some people might think ewh weird eating vegetables for breakfast, but everyone in Asia has soup and vegetables for breakfast, and even Americans have veggies for breakfast! Omelettes are often stuffed with veggies, and so are those potato egg skillet thingies at Denny’s lol. It’s not strange, it’s delicious. Try it! Potatoes do not have to be the lone breakfast veggie any longer.

Here’s my signature version of Tofu Scramble:

Low Fat Vegan Deluxe Dijon Tofu Scramble (with Broccoli, Zucchini, Pepper and Mushrooms)

Serves 4 as a side

Ingredients:

1 package firm tofu, drained (pressed firm tofu is perfect too)
5 tbsp nutritional yeast
1/4 tsp herbamare or salt, or to taste
2 tbsp dijon mustard
2 tbsp maple syrup (or liquid sweetener of choice)
1/2 cup light coconut milk (I use So Delicious SugarFree Original, use unsweetened only please)
1/2-1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups whole mushrooms, chopped (or about 1 -1/2 cups sliced)
1 small crown of broccoli, chopped into half florets
1/2 red pepper, sliced lengthwise and then in half
1/2-1 small zucchini, chopped in half moon thinly (thinner is better to cook faster)

Directions:

1. (Depending on your type of tofu you may or may not need to cut it first before pressing.) Cut tofu into 8 pieces if it’s hard to press with your hands. Squeeze out excess water with your hands or with a tea towel. Crumble tofu into a bowl. If your tofu is easy to crumble, I lay it on a clean tea towel and wrap it up and press all the water out and then crumble it into a bowl. I have used both styles of firm tofu, any firm tofu is good, just get the excess water out. Don’t use silken tofu for this.

2. Add  the nutritional yeast, herbamare or salt, dijon mustard, maple syrup and half of coconut milk. Mix until combined.

3. Next sauté the diced onion dry in a non stick pan or wok over medium heat until soft. Trust me, it will not stick if you have a good non stick pan. (If you don’t have non stick, you can use vegetable broth to cook in) Add the garlic and mushrooms; stir and cook for about 3-4 minutes. (The mushrooms should release water and keep everything from drying out and sticking)

4. Add the crumbled tofu and cook, stirring or tossing gently for about 10-15 minutes. The tofu is very forgiving. You can basically cook the rest of your breakfast while stirring occasionally in your non stick pan without worry. If your non stick pan is not so great, you can add a little vegetable broth or water and in small amounts and keep stirring. You want the tofu to absorb the flavours and cook well without burning.

5. When your other breakfast stuff is almost ready (if you have any), add the broccoli, zucchini, red pepper, and the rest of the coconut milk, mix together and cover with a pot lid. Let it steam for about 5 more minutes until the broccoli is cooked and bright green. Don’t let it burn, add a little more liquid if needed if it’s really dry. You can use extra coconut milk or a bit of water.

6. Taste test and adjust seasonings if desired.  You don’t want your tofu to be too wet, just wet enough that everything can cook and not stick to the pan. Serve right away. I like to eat mine with hash browns or my vegan banana pancakes.

Additional Tips:

Make sure your zucchini is sliced thin enough, you probably don’t want hard crunchy zucchini. If you cut it thicker you can add it right after the mushrooms and cook it with the tofu before you add the rest of the vegetables.

Cook your vegetables until they are the tenderness that you like. Try not to overcook them so the broccoli stays together and looks nice.

Variations:

You can change out any of the vegetables if you don’t like them, or don’t have them. It may sound weird having broccoli for breakfast but trust me, it is delicious and not weird! My family loves it. I think the essentials would be onions and mushrooms in this recipe. You could also throw some spinach in at the last minute to wilt if you like instead of broccoli or zucchini.

If you are feeding more people, you can just up the veggies in this recipe and spread out the scramble. I’ve done that and served 5 people a side serving before fine. If it’s just 2 of you, you can share it with some fruit, toast, pancakes etc and be stuffed!

Add some spiciness to the dish with some tobasco or chipotle chili powder if you want to heat it up.

Have you ever made tofu scramble before? What do you think of this recipe?

How To Prep Veggies For Vegan Sushi Rolls

Vegan California Rolls (Uramaki style)

This post is about how to prep your veggies to make vegan sushi rolls. Check out my recipe for Vegan California Rolls.

Vegan sushi rolls are great because they can appeal to everyone from vegans and vegetarians to people who would rather not eat traditional sushi that contains raw fish.

They are fun to make and can be made up in advance for fancy hors d’oeuvres, a potluck, a themed dinner, a lunch box, or a snack! Choose your favourite fillings and I will give you some tips on how to prepare them for putting into sushi rolls.

Generally, the Japanese do not eat raw plain vegetables in their sushi rolls. They mainly use raw fish, cooked shrimp, cooked crab, pickled daikon radish, egg roe, or cooked egg. The raw vegan friendly items you will find are generally cucumber and avocado. Basically because their texture is desirable raw and you can’t really cook them.

For other harder vegetables they are blanched or gently steamed so they can be easier to chew and more pleasurable to eat. You don’t have to steam your crunchy vegetables if you don’t want to. But I’ll give you some suggestions for which ones to do so for a more enjoyable roll.

For cucumber, the English variety is best because it has few seeds and is tender. You want to slice the cucumber about in half and then slice a 1/2″ thick slice vertically down the cucumber. Next julienne it in strips. You will need about 2 strips of cucumber for each roll you are making.

Slice out the seed portion from your cucumber. You don’t need to use it to make sushi rolls.

If you’re using Bell peppers (capsicum) you can leave them uncooked and raw and just slice the top off and julienne into strips.

For carrots, peel them and slice just like the cucumber into 1/2″ thick slices and then julienne.

I recommend steaming the carrots gently so they are not rock hard and crunchy in your sushi roll. It’s up to you, but steaming for 1-2 minutes will improve the eatability of your veggie sushi.

The carrots have turned a light orange and are al dente. Set aside to cool before rolling into sushi.

For avocado, ensure you have a ripe one. The one I have here is pretty ripe so that’s why it’s a little mushy. Generally sushi bars use semi ripe or a little underripe avocado because they go through so many of them and if they are firm it’s easier to work with. Personally I think crunchy watery unripe avocado is gross and will not use it in my cuisine. So pick a green avocado a few days before you want to make sushi and let it ripen on the counter. It is ripe when soft to the touch. Cut it open, pull out the seed and make slices into the avocado. You can pull out a slice at a time as you slice it, or scoop it all out with a spoon.

All my veggies are now prepped and ready to fill my sushi rolls.

Additional veggies you may want to use in your vegan sushi rolls:

green onion – leave raw, wash and slice lengthwise once and then horizontally once.
asparagus – cut off the hard bottoms, and steam gently for 1-3 minutes and let cool.
yams/sweet potato – peel and cut into long rectangular strips and steam until just cooked but still firm.
zucchini/courgette – peel and julienne like cucumber and steam gently for 1-2 minutes if desired. This improves flavour.
pickled daikon radish – can be purchased at Asian markets and julienned. They are usually bright yellow in colour and is used in Oshinko sushi rolls.
sprouts – you can simply wash and dry sprouts like sunflower or alfalfa and use in addition to other veggies in a sushi roll. By themselves would not be very flavourful.

You can also roll sliced tofu, marinated tofu, or bean curd skin in your vegan sushi rolls if desired as well.

How To Roast A Bell Pepper Over A Gas Flame

How To Roast A Bell Pepper Over A Gas Flame

Roasting peppers are pretty easy when you have a gas stove. If you don’t have a gas stove, you can roast them over a barbecue flame or in a dish in the oven under the broiler and turn as the sides blacken.

*You may want to use tinfoil around your flame to catch the drippings, it makes quite a mess!

1. First select your pepper, make sure it is ripe (in the case of green peppers, they are actually unripe red peppers…) Turn your flame onto high/medium high and place the pepper over it. You will want to have some sort of tongs to pick up the pepper and turn it.

2. Once a side or portion has turned black, you are going to turn it over to another part. (Please use tongs, not hands…) Continue doing this until every side of your pepper turns black. Including the top and bottom!

3. When your pepper is all ugly and blackened place it into a metal pot with a lid, or wrap in some tinfoil if you want. But the pot is easier and less wasteful. You want a lid on the pot so that it can steam it and continue to cook the insides. Let it sit in here for 10-15 minutes.

4. Take your pepper(s) out of the pot/tinfoil (with tongs) and place on a cutting board. Slice it in half and scoop out the seeds, juices and take off the top.

5. Slice each half into another half and start sliding the blackened skin off of the pepper. Do NOT run it under water, as you will wash away a lot of the flavour. Just use a spoon or a knife to scrape off the little tiny black bits once you’ve removed most of it with your hands.

6. Now your peppers are ready to use. You can add them on top of pizza, blend into hummus, put into burritos or quesadillas, add to salads and more.

Enjoy!