Chickpea Flour Scramble - With Breakfast Taco Option...

I’ve been meaning to post this recipe for a while now, but I’ve found myself preoccupied of late. Sorry for the long absence, but I hope this recipe will make up for it. So, on the 23rd of April I really wanted a hearty breakfast. I woke up ravenous and desiring a scramble of some sort. Unfortunately I didn’t have any tofu on hand, neither did I have any canned chickpeas to make Isa’s Chickpea Scramble. However, it occurred to me in a brief moment of culinary genius that if I could make a scramble with whole beans, why couldn’t I make a scramble with chickpea flour? I had heard of it done before, and didn’t think it could be all that hard. I imagined it was somewhat like making a socca - which I love - and so I set to the task of making a chickpea flour scramble.

I was very skeptical that it would work out, especially in the beginning when I realized that the chickpea flour mix just didn’t want to break apart. The whole thing clumped together and wasn’t cooking. I thought I was going to have to scrap the whole endeavor - and no doubt if you try this recipe you might just think the same thing at first, but trust me, it works! - lucky for me I have patience - which is what this recipe needs - I kept at it and was rewarded by one of the most brilliant breakfasts ever. In fact I loved it so much I ended up making it the next day for my husband and I, as he hadn’t been home when I made it the first time. Skeptical as he was, he loved it too, and we devoured this scramble in taco form, though in my opinion it’s also just as good without the tortillas and extras.

What I love about this recipe is you can make the chickpea flour taste like whatever you like, I kept it simple and kept a traditional scramble flavor but you can literally add anything. You can add any spices you can add any vegetables and it creates the perfect gluten-free, and soy free scramble alternative for those who have allergies or sensitivities. More and more people are avoiding soy and gluten but that doesn’t mean they have to cut scrambles out of their lives too.

Personally I think this scramble has a better texture and mouth feel then a tofu scramble. Don’t get me wrong I do love tofu scrambles but I prefer a slightly dryer scramble and tofu scrambles usually have a bit of wetness to them. Also I think that the chickpea scramble mimics eggs better then tofu as it gets firm, but also retains that spongy, springy, softness of an egg. So if you’re looking for a new scramble to try give this one a go. I know it probably sounds weird but trust me the reward is worth it, I know you’ll love it.

Chickpea Flour Scramble 

1 ½ C Chickpea Flour
2 ½ C Water
1 tsp Black Slat
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Onion Powder
½ tsp Turmeric
½ tsp Smoked Paprika
1/4 tsp Black Pepper

3 Green Onions diced
1 Ripe Tomato Diced

For Tacos 

Corn Tortillas
Shredded lettuce or Salad Mix
Vegan Cheese
Ketchup
Hot Sauce


- Lightly oil a medium sized pan, and heat over medium heat.

- In a bowl combine the chickpea flour through the black pepper and mix until thoroughly combined.

- Once the pan is hot add the chickpea flour mixture to the heated pan. Cover the pan and cook for about 4-5 minutes until the top looks glossy and the edges look cooked.

This is how it'll look when you first pour it into the pan

- Using a metal spatula begin scrambling the half-cooked mixture as you would scrambled eggs. Begin by folding and flipping the mixture over. Let it cook another 2 minutes or so and begin flipping again. Bare in mind that the mixture will be sticky and it will only be partially cooked making it difficult to fold, and separate but keep at it. It does take some time but use your spatula to continue to break the mass into smaller and smaller chunks, flipping them and cutting them. It should take at least 10 minutes.

After about 10 minutes

- After 10 minutes the mixture should be a bit dryer and it should be easier to break into pieces. The pan may well be very dry at this time and you can add a touch more olive oil to the pan to help prevent sticking as well as to help crisp up the chickpea mix. About a tablespoon of oil should be more then enough. Continue to flip and break up the chickpea mixture into smaller pieces with your spatula. Another 10 minutes and you should have some small and medium sized chunks, it should by now resemble a more traditional tofu or egg scramble.

Another 10 Minutes 

- When you have the chickpea mix broken into the size chunks you prefer, and they’re nicely dried and cooked through add in your green onions and cook another minute.

We're almost there, it's time for green onions!

- Add in your tomatoes and cook another 2 minutes.

Just about done, add your tomatoes!

- Your scramble should be more then ready now, and you can eat it as is - as you would any traditional tofu scramble. You can eat it on toast, as a side with ketchup, or as I did in tacos.

The finished product, so worth the effort!

- For Chickpea Flour Scramble Tacos spoon some of the chickpea scramble into a corn tortilla, top with your favorite shredded vegan cheese, a handful of shredded lettuce or salad mix, and then drizzle with ketchup or hot sauce as you desire. It would probably even be good with salsa.

Tacos anyone?

ENJOY!!

Vegan Mofo #21 - Terry’s Sweet and Savory Jackfruit Carnitas Tacos...

Vegan Mofo #21 - Terry’s Sweet and Savory Jackfruit Carnitas Tacos  

The Region - Mexico
The Book - Vegan Eats World
The Author - Terry Hope Romero
The Recipe - Sweet and Savory Jackfruit Carnitas Tacos
Page # 105
Difficulty - Easy
Duration - About 1 hour and 30 minutes, or longer depending on how long you wish to marinate the Jackfruit for.

From India we move back to Mexico with Terry Hope Romero’s Sweet and Savory Jackfruit Carnitas Tacos. Jackfruit incase you haven’t heard is the new culinary darling of the vegan community. Over the past year and a half or so I’ve seen it pop up more and more in the blogesphere, magazines, and cook books. Literally everyone it seems is jumping on the jackfruit bandwagon. So what’s the big deal about Jackfruit? Well, texture and appearance really. When cooked and shredded Jackfruit bares an uncanny resemblance to pulled pork or shredded chicken, and texturally it’s got that juicy chewy texture. Taste wise canned Jackfruit isn’t anything to write home about, in fact it’s rather bland but the great thing about it is that similar to tofu it soaks up whatever you decide to marinate it in.

Jackfruit in Sauce on the Stove

As awesome as all that sounded it took me a really long time to get around to trying jackfruit for myself. This is because virtually all jackfruit recipes call for Canned jackfruit packed in water or brine, and the only jackfruit I could ever find in my local grocery was packed in syrup. This is a no-no especially for a savory recipe. It wasn’t until I went to Super H Mart that I found jackfruit packed in brine, but now I’ve found another source even closer to my house. So with several cans of jackfruit on hand I decided to give Terry’s delicious looking carnita’s taco recipe a try.

Originally I was a bit hesitant to include this recipe in Mofo because I didn’t think taco’s were ‘traditional’ enough, at this point they seem almost American. However after a little research I discovered that Tacos actually are a traditionally Mexican dish. They’ve been around since before the Europeans arrived, and the first documentation of a taco appeared in the writings of a Spanish Conquistador who discovered an indigenous population of Mexico eating tacos comprised of small fish. As it turns out a taco can pretty well be made of anything as long as it includes a corn tortilla rolled around some kind of filling.. As for Carnitas, well they’re basically taco’s but instead of using a ‘ground meat’ as non-vegan tacos do they use shredded fried meat simmered in sauce. Traditionally a Mexican carnita uses pork but I’ll stick to the jackfruit thank you very much.

Terry’s recipe is pretty ingenious. She uses ancho chili powder, cumin, coriander, garlic sea salt, pineapple juice, water, tomato paste, chipotle peppers, onion powder, soy sauce, lime juice, molasses, liquid smoke, and bay leaves, to make her delicious sweet, smokey sauce. 20 oz of Jackfruit are then simmered in it for about an hour, before being fried in small batches. Personally after letting the jackfruit marinate, and after simmering for an hour I decided to skip the frying step because I was tried, hungry and didn’t feel like dirtying another pan - next time!

The filling is then scooped into corn tortillas - I used Terry’s home-made corn tortillas from Viva Vegan! As I always do now. - and garnished with pickled red onions - I used plain raw red onions - shredded green cabbage, tomatoes, and avocados. She also suggests drizzling her cashew yogurt sauce over the carnitas but I didn’t have the ingredients to make it and it wasn’t necessary anyway.

These tacos were super delicious, with great texture, and they were super filing. I’ll definitely make them again my only complaint is that I thought the sauce recipe made far more sauce then was needed for only 20 oz of Jackfruit. I think next time I’ll use 40 oz of Jackfruit because my mixture was extra saucy.

Vegan Mofo #22 - Celine & Tamasin’s Navajo Tacos...

Vegan Mofo #22 - Celine & Tamasin’s Navajo Tacos 

The Book - Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day!
The Author - Celine Steen & Tamasin Noyes
The Recipe - Navajo Tacos
Page # 47
Difficulty - Easy
Duration - Roughly 30 minutes

I was intrigued by this recipe from the first moment I opened this book. The picture is scrumptious looking and the recipe sounded easy and delicious. I couldn’t wait to give it a try though I’ll admit I was initially daunted at the prospect of making my own bread. Not that I’m not capable of making my own bread but whenever I do it always seems to be such a long process. Not so in this case. This entire recipe is super simple to throw together even with the bread. The dough is simple, only has to rest for fifteen minutes and then it cooks up quickly fried in a pan of hot oil. The dough recipe is suppose to be enough for 4 pieces of bread but I found it was really only enough for two, two plate sized pieces.

As for the other ingredient’s it’s somewhat traditional taco fare all piled onto a piece of fried bread. Perhaps it’s not technically a sandwich but as it is on bread, and as I do believe I mentioned including taco’s in my Mofo theme, and as the recipe does appears in a book of vegan sandwiches I feel it was appropriate.

So what goes onto the bread? Shredded lettuce, corn salsa, tomato salsa lime wedges, avocado, cilantro and chorizo chickpeas. However I changed this around since I didn’t have any limes I just squirted some bottled lime juice over top. I also didn’t have any corn salsa and couldn’t find any organic corn salsa at the store so I just used organic frozen corn - thawed of course - and extra tomato salsa instead. The chickpeas however are the real star of the show, and I have to say - chorizo chickpeas are probably my new favorite thing ever!!

They’re quick and simple to prepare. They’re spicy and sweet. Basically you pan-fry canned chickpeas in a medley of spices - paprika, cayenne, sea salt, onion powder, minced garlic, olive oil, ketchup, apple cider vinegar, lime juice, and cumin. Until the liquid has been absorbed then you pile them on your taco and voila! Delicious! It’s nice to have both a soy and gluten-free option for a vegan chorizo that is nice and wholesome like that.

By far one of my newest favorite meals, you must try it!