Rustic Citrus Jicama Scramble

When the vegetarian and I first started this blog, I realized I needed to change my reading materials. I first discovered the world of food blogs back in 2005 when I was a student living in Paris and stumbled upon Chocolate and Zucchini. So I'm certainly no stranger to food blogs. But vegetarian food blogs? I had always found them too limiting. Of course, now that I (almost exclusively) cook vegetarian food, they don't seem quite so limiting anymore. And since I do sometimes get tired of adapting omnivore recipes for our kitchen, it's a welcome change to find a recipe that "needs" no tweaking. Plus, I get to learn about new (to me) ingredients that are often found in vegetarian kitchens. What's not to like?

One of the first vegetarian (actually vegan) food blogs I started following was Kathy's Healthy. Happy. Life. At that time (four months ago), I bookmarked this Rustic Citrus Carrot Scramble. Well, life got in the way (as it always does) and now it's May and I've finally found the time to start making some of the recipes saved in my "Blogworthy" folder. Of course, I tweaked the recipe to make it more springlike, most notably substituting jicama, a sweet root vegetable, for the carrots. I sauteed the jicama and tofu in some neutral canola oil along with some sesame oil, a sour-sweet orange, some white vinegar, salty soy sauce, sour lemon zest and kosher salt. I even used nutritional yeast for the first time; it took some getting used to but I'll definitely experiment with it more in the future! Kathy recommends this for breakfast but we had it for dinner, over kaniwa (a grain very similar to quinoa) and accompanied by Pinot Gris, with Kasseri cheese for dessert (for me). Bon appetit!

Rustic Citrus Jicama Scramble
inspired by Healthy. Happy. Life

• 1 pound firm tofu
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1 red onion, sliced
• 2 cups jicama, chopped
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 1 orange, peeled and sectioned
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
• 2 pinches black pepper
• 2 teaspoons white vinegar
• pinch kosher salt

Wrap tofu in a clean kitchen towel and place on a plate. Put another plate on top and weight it down with cans and/or jars. Allow to sit and drain for 1 hour (or as long as possible).

Heat a large skillet over high heat. Swirl in canola oil. Add onion and saute 2 minutes.

Toss in jicama, sesame oil, orange and soy sauce. Unwrap tofu and crumble it in as well. Stir in nutritional yeast, lemon zest and pepper. Cook for another 4 minutes, mixing well and lowering heat and adding more oil if necessary. If pan seems dry, you can also break up orange and distribute its juices.

Turn off heat and add vinegar and salt. Let sit 2 minutes to cool and thicken. Serve at room temperature. Enjoy!

Inspirational Links:

• Rustic Citrus Carrot Scramble from Healthy. Happy. Life.