Make Priya Krishna's tofu green bean breakfast scramble

Forget about scrambling your eggs. This recipe from Priya Krishna's Indian-ish is going to be your breakfast staple from here on in

Make Priya Krishna's tofu green bean breakfast scramble

Make Priya Krishna's tofu green bean breakfast scramble

Mackenzie Kelley

Published: Friday 12th April 2019

Serves 2

Preparation time 15 minutes

Cooking time 15 minutes

"Repeat after me: Don't scramble your eggs, scramble your tofu! This splendid breakfast dish is one of my all-time favorite ways to eat tofu. Oh, what's that? You hate tofu? This is the dish that has converted all of my tofu-skeptic friends. It's based on a classic Northern Indianbreakfast my dad remembers from his childhood, originally involving crumbled paneer sauteed with spices and green beans and usually eaten atop toast.

When my parents immigrated to America and my dad was craving this dish, tofu was my mom's workaround after not being able to find paneer anywhere. What she ended up discovering was how wonderfully light and bouncy the crumbled tofu gets, and how nicely that complements the crunch of the green beans. This dish is essentially a doppelganger for scrambled eggs, thanks to the yellow color of the turmeric and the vaguely eggy, umami-like taste of the chaat masala. But tofu does a far superior job than eggs at really absorbing the flavor of the spices—plus, it's a lot harder to overcook tofu." – Priya Krishna

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tsp cumin seeds
  • ½ tsp ground turmeric
  • 225g fresh green beans, ends trimmed, cut into 2.5cm pieces, or frozen cut green beans (about 300g)
  • 1 tsp kosher salt, plus more if needed
  • 1 small Indian green chilli or serrano chilli, finely chopped
  • One 400g package firm tofu,drained and crumbled into small pieces (think scrambled eggs for texture)
  • 1 tbsp fresh lime juice (from about half a lime), plus more if needed
  • 2 tsp chaat masala, plus more if needed

Method

  1. In a large skillet over medium heat, warm the oil. Once the oil begins to shimmer, add the cumin seeds and cook until they turn a medium shade of brown, about 1 minute max. Swirl the turmeric into the oil, then add the green beans, salt, and chilli.
  2. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook for 5 to 7 minutes, until the green beans are just barely soft (they should still retain a bit of firmness).
  3. Add the crumbled tofu and mix well, then increase the heat to medium and cook, uncovered, for 3 to 4 minutes, until the tofu has softened slightly and turned bright yellow from the turmeric.
  4. Remove the skillet from the heat and mix in the lime juice and chaat masala.Taste and adjust the lime juice, chaat masala, and salt before serving, if needed.

From Indian-ish by Priya Krishna; photography by Mackenzie Kelley; published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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