My whole family is allergic to eggs. I developed the allergy in my early twenties and learning to give up my favourite food has been a challenge. I can work around it by finding vegan recipes online and doing a lot of my own baking, however a replacement for good old egg salad sandwiches was impossible until now.
The brilliance of tofu is that it absorbs the flavours of the ingredients you add to it. The consistency is important! Anything softer than “medium” will make your salad runny and anything harder will make the texture all wrong.
The most common mistake with tofu (it has a bad rap, admit it…) is using the wrong consistency for the recipe or trying to use it as a meat replacement in a meat recipe. Use tofu specific recipes and you may have more luck. It generally tastes like nothing, until you add your own flavours and it absorbs them. Tofu done correctly can be awesome!
Eggless Egg Salad
-1 Pkg “Medium”
Tofu (approx. 454g)
-2 Regular green
onions, chopped
-1 tsp dry mustard
-3 to 4
tablespoons Vegenaise Original
-Pepper to taste
-1/2 to ¾ tsp
Indian Black Salt (also known as Kala Namak) **Secret Ingredient!
-Step 1: Slice open tofu package and drain. Get as
much liquid out as possible, pat dry with clean paper towel if necessary. Slice
into medium sized chunks and dump into a medium sized mixing bowl.
-Step 2: With a fork, mash up the tofu until it
vaguely resembles a scrambled egg.
-Step 3: Add Vegenaise.
*On a side note: There are several mayonnaise
substitutes out there, and I’ve tried most of them. This seems to be the
tastiest and closest to real mayonnaise. Most of them have the consistency of
snot (ew), but this one doesn’t. If you try this recipe and use a different
mayo-alternative, be prepared that it may not be as awesome
-Step 4: Add onions, mustard and pepper. Dry mustard
works best, but if you don’t have any, regular bottled mustard will work. You
will need at least two teaspoons (dry mustard is more concentrated). I like my
egg salad slightly spicy so I usually start with 1 tsp of dry mustard then add
more to taste. Fold together until well mixed.
-Step 5: Here is where the magic happens! The secret
ingredient is Indian Black Salt, sometimes called Kala Namak. Its origin is
African and Indian, and I had a very hard time finding it. I eventually ordered
it from Amazon. One sniff and you’ll understand why this is the secret and MOST important component of this recipe!
It smells and tastes like sulphur (which we all know smells like eggs!) It’s
incredibly salty so add with care. ½ to ¾ tsp is probably enough. Mix in.
*On a side note, I ordered it in
bulk on Amazon by accident and now have enough for 3 lifetimes. If you are local and want to try it, they sent
it in a bunch of sealed packages I could sell off! (a.sawatzky@live.com)
-Step 6: Add to bread or toast. Yum.
I have fed this to
friends and family who did not realize it was tofu. It’s that good!
Indian Black Salt
is also an awesome addition to vegan potato salad to add a bit of eggy taste.
Cheers!
