I kicked off Vegan MoFo 2012 with post about Austin's Bouldin Creek Coffeehouse and in it I talked about the amazing noochy scramble they make. I didn't include this next picture in the post because it kinda sucks & it really doesn't convey how delicious this meal was. It was my favourite out of everything I tried there and I knew I wanted to recreate it as soon as I came up with Facsimilie Friday. Facsimile Friday is where I'm going to recreate my favourite dishes from my travels. The best place I've ever been is Austin, Texas. I love everything about that city - the vegan scene, the people, the weather, the amount of rad outdoor stuff there is to do, food carts, live music everywhere. It's just the best. Go! I could go on and on about why I love Bouldin Creek and Austin for hours but this is about scramble to I'll try to stick to that.
Also when I said I wanted to recreate it I meant I wanted Nick to recreate it. He's the resident scramble maker in this house - it's one of his specialities alongside pancakes, microwave cake and having the patience to whisk things until properly thickened.
As you can see the Bouldin Creek scramble is made up of steamed spinach, fresh local tomatoes, noochy tofu scramble and sourdough toast with a slice of lemon on the side. This means that my plate of food is also made up of those exact same things. That's how Facsimile Friday works people! I even managed to find an organic English tomato which was as close to good as British tomatoes ever get. I also fried my spinach with garlic because I freaking love garlic and because I couldn't be bothered to get my steamer out of the drawer it lives in.
As I mentioned Nick was in charge of scramble and he refuses to measure things or follow recipes properly so I'll try to give you a decent idea of what he did.
We always buy Taifun tofu in 400g packs, this makes 3 good servings of scramble. It's super extra firm (not a real thing) and you really don't need to press it. I would press any other tofu before making this recipe. He crumbled and smooshed the tofu in a bowl until it had the right still-chunky consistency and then fried it in 1 tsp of olive oil until it started to crisp up a little. This is not normal scramble practice in our house but it works in this recipe. He then added about 1/4 tsp of turmeric, 1/2 tsp of onion powder & 2 cloves of garlic smooshed in a press and fried for a further 2 minutes. He then added about 1 1/2 tsps of American style mustard before adding the best part, 1/2 of a cup of nooch. This got stirred in for a few minutes and then he seasoned the whole thing with S+P before adding 1 1/2 TBS of Alpro soya cream.
This didn't come out quite the same as the Bouldin Creek version and we think we needed to squeeze a little lemon into the scramble itself and fry the tofu for longer before adding any of the other ingredients, maybe 10 minutes rather than 5? I'm not sure. We're bad at writing recipes!
We love A LOT of nooch, you may not. If not this isn't the scramble for you. There are a million other scrambles out there so no worries, you'll find one you love.
It really is the best scramble ever. The rumor is that they make it in an oven.
ReplyDeleteMind. Blown.
DeleteI love this theme! My own scramble is always hit or miss and I never like it out.
ReplyDeleteIt appears to be tofu-appreciation day for mofo-ers. Is that word? That's not a word, I think. Anyways. I love scrambled tofu on toast. Where do you buy your Taifun tofu? I'm sick of how I pay £2.00 for the cauldron stuff and then so much water comes out that it only makes two small servings of tofu :(
ReplyDeleteI buy mine from Infinity Foods in Brighton and yeah, Cauldron kinda sucks!
DeleteSeconding movingscouse's question, where do you get plain taifun tofu?! I can only get the rosso or smoked versions.
ReplyDeleteIt took me a few years of veganism before I tried tofu scramble madly enough but now I love it, especially with lots of noosh :)
Just from Infinity Foods although just remembered that it's also sometimes sold in Waitrose. I wonder if Ocado have it?
DeleteOh I love Bouldin Creek's scramble so much! But I really want to try one of Nick's after you've raved about his talents. Are you going to try it in the oven? What an idea. And yes, nooch overload is always the answer.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely, maybe fry in the cast iron and then move to the oven? We'll keep experimenting and you can be our official taste tester when you come back!
DeleteAustin is such a cool city. I love Toy Joy's chick-o-stick milkshake! I have been meaning to make a return trip soon. I might wait until Capital City Bakery has their shop open, instead of just the food truck!
ReplyDeleteI haven't made tofu scramble for ages and now I'm craving it. I love how you added American style mustard to yours, I'm definitely going to try that. There's no such thing as too much nooch :)
ReplyDeleteI've never been to Austin but have always wanted to check it out. This scramble looks good. Lots of Nooch how can you go wrong.
ReplyDeleteGarlic spinach forever. I didn't get to make it to Bouldin on my short visit but I am so hitting it up next time. (Funny enough, I was told that I get enough brunch in Portland -- so true -- and to keep eating tacos!)
ReplyDeleteOooh, I love the way that's plated! I don't think I ever would have thought of serving spinach and tomatoes on the side of a scramble. Aaaand, I think that top pic has the reddest tomato I've ever seen! I like the idea of frying the tofu a bit at the beginning. I always add mine at the end after I've sauteed up a bunch of veggies and it basically just warms it up.
ReplyDeleteI remembered your trip in Austin, Texas, man, I really would love to visit Austin one day. It's just a flight away from Oregon! I wasn't sure if I need to rent a car in Austin or is Austin that walkable? The noochy tofu scramble looks really good, with my favorite bread in the world: sourdough! Taifun tofu ;) Love the name, is it from an Asian market? I LOVE NOOCH, who doesn't?!
ReplyDeleteI would say that you definitely need to rent a car in Austin, it's an awesome city but it's not walkable and the public transport isn;t great. The Taifun tofu isn't from an Asian market, I think it's a health food type brand.
DeleteYou can never have too much nooch! :D
ReplyDeleteI love a noochy scramble.
I've never made a tofu scramble that makes me go woop woop, but yours looks delicious! I must try harder! :)
ReplyDeleteMan, I miss 'fu scrams! This looks SO good :D You and that book are the reason I will one day visit Austin (hopefully!)
ReplyDeleteI love your idea of facsimile friday! And this meal looks great. I also like a lot of nutritional yeast in my scrambles--I have some tofu I need to use up but I'm out of nooch and I feel like it would just be a sad scramble without.
ReplyDeleteAlso, tofu scramble in an oven? That actually sounds really convenient, I may need to try that!
those texan tomatoes look amazing and the scramble sounds great and I love garlicky spinach too - I once made a great tofu scramble with a noochy cheeze sauce and it was my best ever but I didn't write what I did and have never reached those dizzy scrambled heights again
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