Recipe: Post-ride vegan scramble

This tofu scramble recipe is the perfect meal for a filling post-ride brunch. It has carbohydrates and protein, two of the most important nutritional factors for recovery and muscle repair. In this turmeric-heavy recipe, curcumin (the main phenolic compound in turmeric), helps to reduce inflammation and supports muscle recovery.

Tofu scramble

Tofu scramble a recipe that can be modified in a number of ways to best suit your personal tastes. Tofu takes on a wide range of flavours very easily, so it’s perfect for whatever region of spices you’re in the mood to eat. This recipe uses a mix of southeast Asian spices and central Asian flavours, but you can try it with Mediterranean spices or even cook the tofu using seasoning for ground taco meat.

Fresh turmeric does well in this recipe, but if you can’t get a hold of it ground turmeric is just fine.

The greens are also very interchangeable. Here we use kale, but swiss chard, collard green, dandelion greens, spinach and Chinese broccoli all work well in the scramble.

To save time on cooking, make the rice ahead of your ride—either the night before or the morning of. You can also wash and prepare your leafy greens ahead of time, which will just leave chopping up the aromatics in terms of preparation before you start cooking (getting the food in your stomach ASAP).

Ingredients:

-Rice
-1 bunch of kale (about 2-4 cups stemmed and roughly ripped)
-2 blocks of firm or extra firm tofu (350-420g each)
-2 tbsp. olive oil
-1 Onion
-3 cloves of garlic, diced
-Thumb of ginger, diced
-2-3 tsp. fresh turmeric or 1 tsp dry
-1 tsp. cumin
-1/2 tsp. salt
-Ground pepper to taste
-Chilli flakes to taste
-1 tsp. sesame seeds, more for serving
-2 tbsp. soy sauce
-1 tbsp. gochujang (sriracha, another hot sauce or chilli paste could be substituted and added to taste. If you don’t like spice, skip or reduce this ingredient)
-2 scallions, sliced

Optional add-ins:

As mentioned, this recipe is fun to modify—you can throw in or top it with some ingredients you have on hand. Here are a few examples of additional ingredients you could try incorporating into your scramble.
-Mushroom
-Nutritional yeast
-Potato
-Bell pepper
-Microgreens
-Arugula

Steps:

1. Cook the rice. Wash and de-stem the kale, then roughly rip the leaves.

2. Thinly slice the onion into half-moons. Peel the ginger (and turmeric if fresh) and grate using a Microplane or the small holes of a box grater. Dice the garlic.

3. Heat the oil over medium heat in a large saute pan or skillet and add onion and garlic. Cook for 1-2 minutes then add ginger and turmeric, half of the cumin (1/2 tsp.) and half the sesame seeds (1 tsp.) Cook until the onions are translucent but not yet browning.

4. Remove the tofu from its liquid and crumble it into the pan. The easiest way to do this is with your hands but a potato masher can work as well. Stir the tofu, turning it a nice yellow colour from the turmeric. Add the second half of the cumin (1/2 tsp.) the salt, chilli flakes and some ground pepper.

5. Cook for about 5-6 minutes, or until some of the liquid from the tofu has reduced. Add the soy sauce and the gochujang (or other spice) and stir. Cook for another 5-7 minutes, or until the tofu has reached the consistency that you would look for in scrambled eggs.

6. Fold the greens into the scramble. For thicker leaves, like kale, you can cover the pan for 1-2 minutes to wilt the greens. Remove from heat.

7. Serve the scramble on a bed of rice, top with sesame seeds and scallions.