My husband and I try to have non-meat-based dinners at least once (often twice) a week. It’s usually not full-out vegan, but definitely meat-free. The dinners can range from crustless vegetable quiche to baked tofu and mozzarella or ratatouille and vegetarian fried grains. One of our favourites – or rather MY favourites – is some sort of vegetarian fried quinoa (quinoa is eaten regularly in our home – almost weekly). This past weeks, I made one using tofu chunks, frozen beans (black and kidney) as well as some frozen vegetables as well as some fresh ones I had in the fridge. Much of it can be prepared in advance, so you only need to toss things together when you come home from work. This serves two as a main and four as a side.
Ingredients needed:
- 1 to 1 1/2 cups of cooked quinoa
- 1 to 1 1/2 cups of tofu chunks, further cut into smaller pieces
- 1/2 to 3/4 cups of frozen pulses (kidney and black beans in this case, but you can easily use chickpeas)
- 1 cup of chopped carrots
- 1 cup of chopped zucchini
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 cup of frozen green leafy vegetables (I used a mix of kale and spinach in this case)
- 1 whole egg and 1 egg white (optional)
- 1 tablespoon each of chopped garlic and ginger
- 1/2 to 1 tablespoon of soy or tamari sauce
- 1/2 to 1 tablespoon each of black pepper, dried basil and dried oregano (optional)
Directions:
- Start by heating a wok with oil or broth and add the onions, garlic and cook for about 1-2 minutes
- Add carrots first (as they take longer to cook), followed by zucchini and tofu
- Add the dried herbs and black pepper, if using
- Add quinoa and cook for about 3 minutes. If the pan looks dry, add a bit more broth.
- Add pulses
- Add frozen vegetables
- Clear the centre of the pan and add the eggs, scrambling them and adding the quinoa, pulses, tofu and vegetable mixture into the eggs, stirring until the eggs are cooked through.
We served ours topped with a bit of hummus and chunky ketchup for a more fusion taste.
