weekend brunch: scrambled tofu

At our house, tofu is a weekend brunch staple. I like to saute slices in a bit of oil, vinegar, and spices to resemble a fried egg on a breakfast sandwich or tofu florentine or benedict. The boyfriend makes the world's best tofu bacon. But usually, on the weekends, we prefer our tofu scrambled.

Steamy scrambly goodness.

We almost always have scrambled tofu with a sweet-potato product and a bread product. Here is onion and olive scrambled tofu with sweet potato home fries and a biscuit.

I've tried a bunch of different recipes for scrambling tofu, but I've found the best kind is what we whip up ourselves with whatever we're feeling like at the moment. Here are the important components to scrambled tofu, which you can use as a simple scramble or as a base for a more exotic one: a block of firm tofu, crumbled (I like the occasional large curd-like crumble in mine, but that's mostly because my dad used to like to overcook scrambled eggs). A little oil. A bit of soy sauce, a bit of white miso and/or nutritional yeast (a tsp up to a Tbsp of each, whatever you like). And most importantly, if you want a good "eggy" texture: ground flaxseeds with some water. I'd've ever thought of that on my own (which is strange, actually, since flaxseeds are my go-to egg replacer), but the boyfriend always adds ground flaxseeds and water to his scrambled tofu.

I assume everyone has their own favorite recipe for scrambled tofu, so you might be thinking "whatever, I'm not trying a new recipe." But I'm telling you: try adding the flaxseeds. A good place to start is a Tbsp ground flaxseeds and 2-3 Tbsp water. Mix all your scramble ingredients in a bowl with salt and pepper, then saute in a skillet over medium-low heat (in oil if you want, but it's much yummier in a Tbsp or two of Earth Balance). Stir it occasionally, but it's nice if you can let the bottom brown a bit. You can eat it any time after 5-10 minutes. If you want to make it cook longer (ie, you're waiting for home fries to finish cooking), just add a couple Tbsp water so it doesn't dry out.

Some people, like my father, are scramble purists, and don't like any veggies in their breakfast, but I like to lightly saute some onion and/or garlic before I add the tofu to the skillet. Spinach or other greens are also good additions; shredded carrots can be good, too. Other things you can experiment with, to taste, when you go to make the tofu mixture are spices (turmeric for color, asafoetida or black salt for more of an eggy flavor, curry powder,  herbs), condiments (mustard, vegenaise, maybe ketchup if you're feeling crazy), seeds (sunflower seeds work well) or vegan analogs (fake cheese and/or cheese sauces, crumbled veggie bacon or sausage, etc).