chickpea flour – Eat the Vegan Rainbow

Soy-free Vegan Scrambled Eggs, via Eat the Vegan Rainbow

Most of us grew up eating eggs for breakfast, and some of us (me included) have also used eggs as a quick lunch or dinner. Going vegan did not come with simple instructions on how to replace eggs. Although there are some great online resources on how to replace eggs in baked goods, it is less clear how to make a simple egg-based breakfast without eggs. There are couple of products on the market and Follow Your Heart‘s VeganEgg is pretty decent, but could do with some optimization.

I have also been seeing people commenting that tofu scramble just does not do it for them, or that they really miss their breakfast eggs or burritos, and that they are getting bored with all the oatmeal or smoothies, which all of us with plant-based diets seem to be converging on as go-to breakfast items. So, I embarked on a bit of experimentation and I think I struck gold!

Or to be more specific struck a chickpea flour-based scrambled egg substitute that works relatively well. My special “egg” mix also includes flax meal, as well as tapioca starch as two ingredients that add a bit of stretchiness to the final scramble. I also added just a pinch of turmeric because it gives these eggs a nice, bright yellow color that is very close to the original – however you can skip it if you dislike the taste.

Many egg replacers include some Himalayan black salt, which owes its color to the presence of iron sulfide, and sulfides have that well-known rotten egg smell. So, adding them to egg replacers sends a strong “egg” signal to our receptors. However, it is the smell of rotten eggs, and I prefer my eggs not in state of any decay so I recommend against it. But if you liked your nostrils being tickled by the sulfide aroma, feel free to replace the plain salt below with the black one.

Although the “egg” mix will look a bit weird and have a thick, sort of custard-like consistency that’s OK. You will need to keep stirring the scramble as it cooks to get that nice scrambled egg look and feel. One down side of this recipe is that the “egg” mix needs some help since it is pretty bland tasting on its own. Here, I add some scallions and sun dried tomatoes, which really add a lot of flavor to the scramble. The add-ons are fully customizable and you can use onions, mushrooms, pesto, asparagus, peppers, hot sauce, vegan cheese, nutritional yeast, or any combination of these.

Hopefully, this recipe will bring the scrambled eggs back to your breakfast menu!

Soy-free Vegan Scrambled “Eggs”

What you’ll need:

1/2 cup chickpea flour

1 tablespoon flax meal

1 tablespoon tapioca starch

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon turmeric (optional, for color only)

1 1/2 cup hot water

6 scallions (green onions), trimmed

1/2 cup (50 g) sun dried tomatoes, finely sliced

2 teaspoons olive oil

What you’ll do:

Combine the first five ingredients (chickpea flour, tapioca starch, flax meal, salt and optionally turmeric) in a mixing bowl and whisk together. Add hot water in 1/2 cup increments and gradually, whisking as you add to avoid clumping. You may need to adjust the amount of liquid so do add the last 1/2 cup slowly. The mixture should have pudding-like consistency.
Let the “scrambled egg” mix sit for 5 minutes or so.
While the mix is resting, chop the scallions, both green and white bits, and the sun dried tomatoes.
Place a large frying pan over the medium high heat, add the oil, and the chopped scallions and tomatoes. Brown the vegetables for few minutes.
Pour the egg mix in, and stir occasionally allowing the mix to slightly brown.
Serve with a slice of freshly toasted bread, an English muffin, a bagel, or wrap in a tortilla for a breakfast burrito. If you are serving with toast, use your fork to fluff the scramble up and give it a more of a scrambled egg look!