When winter comes knocking, days are short, cold, grey or dark, for us it’s the time for extreme cosiness at home, but also long walks, and hikes in the beautiful nature! To make sure we fueled ourselves for one of those walks today, we decided on a full vegan english breakfast.
We made some tofu scramble, beans in tomato sauce, hash browns, mushrooms, vegan bacon bits and sausages. We did however not make everything from scratch! The sausages are ‘rookworst’, a vegan ‘smoked sausage’ by the Albert Heijn brand. The bacon bits are from Vivera, and the beans in tomato sauce come out of a tin. For the other stuff, we’ll share how we prepared them right here!
Tofu Scramble:
Heat some oil (we used rapeseed oil) in a pan, and add a diced block of firm tofu to it. Squash the cubes with a fork, or a potato masher, until everything is nicely broken up. If you want the scramble a little wetter, you can add a splash of vegan cream to it (we used Alpro soy cream). Add pepper and salt to flavour, and some turmeric (kurkuma) for a little more color. If you want a real ‘eggy’ flavour, add some kala namak (Indian Black Salt). If you intend to use kala namak, be sure not to add too much regular salt. Remember, you can always add salt, but never really take it out again.
It does not need a lot of time in the pan. 5 minutes will usually be more than enough. Fresh herbs will almost always lift your scramble to another level, so don’t be shy! Add chives, parsley, …. go nuts!
Hash browns:
Grate some waxy potatoes and add them to a hot pan with some oil (again, we used rapeseed oil), and press them down, to form something that looks like a pancake (see picture above).
If the heat is high they will start to color and crispen up very quickly! It takes about 2 minutes.
Once golden brown, flip over, reduce the heat to a medium, and let it sit for about 5 more minutes. Season with salt, pepper, …
Mushrooms:
Cut some button mushrooms into equal parts, and throw them in a hot pan with some oil (yes… again, rapeseed oil), and toss them around like a pro!
With mushrooms we feel that the seasoning makes all the difference. Even the most humble of mushrooms can taste like a gourmet’s dream!
We rely heavily on the Funghi Trifolati mix by Euroma/Jonnie Boer (we get it from Albert Heijn). It contains a dried mix of onion, parsley, garlic, mushroom, rosemary, sage, black pepper, tomato.
It gives a slight mediterranean feel to the mushrooms, but gives a delightful contrast with the rest of the ingredients of this breakfast.
Pour yourself a nice cup of tea, sit down, and indulge!
See you next week, with another one of our favorite recipes!
SANS SAUCIS 