Tofu scramble is a great way to have breakfast without eggs. Maybe you should give your spouse a carton of eggs for Valentine’s Day. They have become increasingly hard to find and almost stupidly expensive. Thus, one of our staples for breakfast has become something you think about twice before cooking with. There are many causes for the incredibly sharp increase in the price of eggs, from a nasty outbreak of avian flu to supply issues (aren’t we done with the whole supply issue excuse?) and new laws calling for more humane treatment of hens. The price of eggs has doubled or nearly tripled. The Avian flu has killed directly or indirectly more than 6.4 million birds in Colorado alone. Every major egg producer in the state has been affected. According to the USDA, the national average for a dozen eggs last week was $3.59. Of course, there are many places where that is significantly higher. California’s average is almost 8 dollars. Here in Colorado, I saw eggs going for $5.99.
What can you use instead of eggs in your beloved breakfast burrito? Thankfully, many different egg alternatives are easily found for most things that use eggs. Are you going to be able to poach a slightly runny egg for eggs benedict, make a pavlova, or angel food cake? No. But for most things, there are great alternatives that work surprisingly well. One of the best is using tofu and some spices to make a tofu scramble. It takes the same time to make this as scrambling eggs, and it tastes remarkably like if you had used eggs. I love to put it into a breakfast burrito or a sandwich, too.
The secret is using a little thing called nutritional yeast. This funky, flaky yellow powder is a deactivated form of baker’s yeast with many vitamins and minerals, and it is used in many vegan recipes. It can be made to taste like parmesan cheese, for instance. And it also helps tofu taste like scrambled eggs. I have known about it for many years, and though I am not a vegan, I enjoy cooking vegan food here and there. With the price of eggs, I thought I would post a cheaper way to have scrambled “eggs” in the morning that actually tastes fabulous.
Making Tofu scramble is easy. I love some shallots in mine, though you can omit them and use some onion or nothing at all if you want. Sauté the shallots up, add crumbled tofu and the spices, and heat it up. That is it! And it is less expensive than those precious eggs. I encourage you to try out tofu, even if you have not liked it before. One of the beauties of it is that it can take on the flavors of whatever you add to it. The key to this tofu scramble is not adding too much of the yeast and spices. Eggs are subtle, so go easy on adding extra until you taste them, and you can adjust the amount if you need more.
Ok, that is all for this week. Tofu really is an excellent alternative to eggs for breakfast, and you won’t have to sell your kids to enjoy it! I hope you are all staying safe and healthy out there. Please think of others in your choices. We all need to get through these times together. Until next time!
- 3 tablespoons finely chopped shallot or onion
- Vegetable oil or olive oil
- 12 ounces extra-firm tofu organic
- 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- ¼ teaspoon salt to taste
- ¼ teaspoon pepper to taste
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Sauté the shallot until softened in a large skillet with a bit of oil on medium heat. You can use a nonstick skillet and not use any oil. But the oil will add richness.
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Crumble the tofu into small pieces with your hands.
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Add to the skillet and sauté to begin to heat up.
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Add the nutritional yeast, mustard, turmeric, salt, and pepper.
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Stir well to combine and continue to sauté until hot.
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Serve immediately.
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Great in a burrito or "egg" sandwich, too!
