This recipe has come to you as part of a great little Friday Focus on my blog – a post to help you ‘plant-focus’ your diet! I would call myself a ‘plant-based ‘ eater, if I was pushed to label the way I structure my meals, but to me that DOESN’T mean I’m full vegetarian or vegan. I eat meat (mostly white, occasional red, and lots of fish), but I plan my meals around plant-based foods for the most part. By that I mean vegetables, lentils, legumes, fruit, nuts, seeds – you name it. I love vegetarian cooking – it definitely makes me up my creative cooking game. In the post on this week’s focus, my friend and qualified dietitian Catherine Downey (@the.sporty.dietitian on Instagram) have come up with some super simple plant-based meals and snacks for you, to help you increase the plant focus of your diet. We have written before about the benefits of plant-focused eating on my blog before, and we wanted to share more recipe ideas with you! Who doesn’t love some foodie inspiration?

This recipe is a tofu twist on a egg classic – scrambled. I’ve used fresh tofu for the best scramble effect, and the flavours are spiced up to super charge your plant-focused palette! People often ask me about where to find tofu or how to use it when they are considering trying it after seeing my posts. Most big supermarkets stock fresh tofu by brands like Cauldron Foods, and I also love picking up smoked tofu from health stores to add to curries, dahls or even salads for weekly meal prep. We hope you enjoy this dish as much as we do!

Recipe (Serves 1) 

Ingredients

• 1 garlic clove, peeled and diced
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, for cooking
• 1/4 tsp medium chili powder
• 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tsp flat leaf parsley
• 1 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
• 2 tbsp water
• 1/2 red onion, peeled and diced
• 1 red bell pepper, de-seeded and chopped into 1 inch chunks
• 2 handfuls of fresh washed spinach leaves
• 100g of fresh tofu, chopped into 1 inch chunks

Method

1. Prepare your veggies (onion, garlic, pepper and spinach) and set aside.
2. Add your sauce ingredients to a small bowl (yeast flakes, parlsey, water, cumin, coriander, turmeric chili and paprika)
3. Heat one tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil in a small frying pan, and except for the spinach, add the veggies and garlic. Sweat these for 3-4 minutes.
4. Add the spinach and allow it to wilt into the mix.
5. Add the tofu, and stir for another 3-4 minutes on medium heat.
6. Add the sauce, add a splash extra water, and cook for another 5-7 minutes.
7. Season with a twist of black pepper and a pinch of sea salt, stir again, and you’re good to go!

Enjoy guys! Tag us if you try this recipe out – I’m @theirishbalance on Instagram/Twitter/Facebook!

Ciara 🙂