Serving per serving, eggs remain a pretty economical way to get protein into one’s diet. Certainly, a couple of eggs is cheaper than a burger or two.
But the price has been going up, courtesy of an avian flu epidemic that has led to the destruction of 165 million or more birds across the nation, and because of an increase in chicken feed prices dating back to about 2019, but getting more expensive all the time.
So I see it as my culinary duty, nay, my duty as an American, to find a way to lighten the burden on my fellow egg lovers. To that end, I give you ... tofu.
Actually, the spousal unit has been saying for years that we eat too much meat, and she’d be very happy if I put more vegetarian meals on the dinner table. So it works out both ways.
Of course, tofu and eggs are not interchangeable. An egg contains emulsifiers that help bind oil to water — very useful in some dishes. And its protein is less processed, so it can be used as a binder in dishes and sauces where tofu cannot.
Nutritionally, they’re not quite the same, either. Tofu has more protein and less fat than an egg, more carbs and less water, too.
Tofu has less saturated fat than an egg, but eggs are higher in monounsaturated fats — the kind of fats you want. Tofu has lots of vitamin B1, where eggs are high in B12. Tofu has more minerals; eggs have a lower glycemic index.
Mostly, I know that while I still have to perfect my stir-fried tofu recipe, I pretty much hit it out of the park with a tofu-based frittata.
Looking around, I found a number of recipes for a tofu scramble, one of those things the vegans like to do. But in looking at the recipes, their biggest concern was with how to make a white or off-white brick of tofu look like a yellow scrambled egg. Some used turmeric; one or two used paprika. I didn’t find any that used saffron (which is really kind of expensive), but I have to imagine it would impart a nice eggy yellow.
I was more concerned with the texture. Tofu is much like a scrambled egg in consistency, but it’s not identical. So rather than a scramble, I decided on a frittata. The combination of vegetables, potato, cheese and eggy-like stuff, I thought, would lead to a different chewing experience. And my wife, ever finicky, would forget that she wasn’t eating an egg.
It’s not a perfect frittata, though. In a classic Italian frittata, the egg binds all the other ingredients together, and that’s not the case here. It’s more like a hash, but it’s close enough. And the wife would eat it again.
TOFRITTATA
1 14-ounce block of extra-firm tofu
1/2 cup bell pepper, sliced
1/2 cup mushroom, sliced
3/4 cup zucchini, sliced
1 1/4 cups potato, cubed and boiled
2 Tbs. nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp. turmeric or curry powder
1/2 tsp. cumin, roasted and ground
2 Tbs. milk
1 cup cheese, grated
Slice the tofu in half and press it for 15 or 20 minutes, wrapped in several layers of paper towel, to extract what moisture you can. Break it up with your fingers into egg-like curds.
Sauté the vegetables and potatoes in a small amount of oil in an all-metal non-stick pan until they soften slightly and take on some color. Add the yeast, spices and milk, then stir in the tofu. Cook for another few minutes, stirring occasionally, until everything is heated through and the flavors meld together.
Play with it: Mix up the veggies. Asparagus goes well with eggs, or a half-cup of chopped onion or a teaspoon or two of minced garlic. To continue the Indian tradition of the turmeric, you might add some cinnamon, clove, ginger or coriander.
