INGREDIENTS
- 1 x block 400g / 14 oz tofu – medium press
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium onion, either yellow or red, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
- ½ tsp ground turmeric
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp paprika
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- Optional: 1 small courgette or pepper, chopped or 1 carrot, grated
- 1 tbsp fresh parsley or dill, freshly chopped (opt. but an amazing addition, both work well but I love it with dill). If you don’t have fresh herbs to hand, add ½ tsp dried parsley and ½ tsp dried thyme
- Juice of ½ lemon
- Freshly ground black pepper
METHOD
Crumble the pressed tofu into a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix the spices; turmeric, cumin, paprika and salt with 1 tbsp water to dissolve them. Whilst not completely necessary, this process ensures the strong flavours are evenly spread though out the dish. Add the spice mix to the tofu and combine.
Heat the oil in a medium-sized frying pan and add the diced onion. Cook on a low-medium heat for 7-10 mins so the onions are translucent and have completely softened. Add the garlic and allow to heat through and become fragrant without catching, max 2 mins. Add the dried herbs at this point if you are using them. Then add the tofu/spice mix. Stir well and continue cooking to heat everything through. Next add the Dijon and nutritional yeast.
Adding extra vegetables
If you’re going to add any fresh vegetables now’s the time to do it, making sure they are either finely diced or grated. It will increase the cooking time so we normally serve the tofu scramble with other veggies alongside, such as mushrooms and tomatoes, to speed up the process. If you want to add courgette and/or carrot, both of which work well, it’s best to grate them in now as you don’t really want to bite into cubes of veg in the scramble.
Continue stirring over a low heat for another 5-10 mins. Finally, add the lemon juice, the chopped, fresh herbs if you are using them and freshly ground black pepper. Stir to combine and serve immediately.
The list of delicious accompaniments to this dish is extensive, but we generally serve it on wholemeal toast with fried mushrooms, grilled tomatoes, sliced avocado, maybe some salsa or hot sauce and even, if we’re feeling racy, a dollop of home-made hummus.
Note: If you’re wondering how to make your own hummus, buy any cookery book by awesome, family-friendly cook, Dreena Burton as she’s the champion of all hummus-making champions, and one of her books even devotes a whole chapter to this wondrous chickpea dip.
