Tofu Migas

All weekend I wanted to go out for breakfast at a local restaurant that we like a lot, but we have been trying to save our money by not eating out. So I decided to try and replicate the dish I wanted to order from there. Migas seem to be on the breakfast menu of most New Mexican style restaurants here though they are usually made of eggs. It's a mixture of scrambled eggs, crispy corn tortilla strips, tomatoes, chiles, peppers and spices. I saw a similar recipe in Vegetarian Suppers by Deborah Madison that I flipped through at soccer yesterday (a friend had brought it) for tofu migas which was right up my alley since I had a couple tubs of soft tofu to use up. I normally don't buy soft tofu (I'm an extra-firm type), but a friend had brought them over and then left them for me.


Here are my ingredients - tofu, corn tortillas, chipotle sauce*, scallions, cilantro, serrano peppers, paprika, turmeric, salt, tomatoes and a can of beans. *The recipe called for using a tiny bit of chipotles in adobo sauce from a can, but I can never use up the rest of the can before it goes bad so when I saw this sauce at Whole Foods, I thought that I would try it. It was good! Not that spicy, but added that smoky flavor of chipotles.

First I sliced the corn tortillas into bite size pieces and then put them in a frying pan with some olive oil to get crispy. I also sprinkled them with salt as they were cooking. I think that one of the main reasons that people decide that they don't like tofu is because so many people and restaurants (Asian restaurants being an exception) don't flavor the tofu properly while cooking. Tofu itself really doesn't have that much flavor, so you need to add salt, spices and herbs in generous amounts to get the flavor.




Once they were done I took them out of the pan and hand crumbled the tofu into the already hot pan. I let some of the water boil away and then added the spices. I didn't measure, but it was probably about 1.5 teaspoons of paprika, 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric and 1.5 teaspoons of salt.


Mix it well and continue it cooking until all the water is gone.


Meanwhile, chop the peppers and the scallions and once the water is out of the tofu, add them to the pan. I took the seeds out of the peppers so it wouldn't be too spicy for DH. I really love spicy food, but he has a tendency to get heartburn if he eats something too spicy, so I was trying to keep it a bit tame - though I knew it was going to be too spicy for the kids.



Here's my puppy who was surprisingly helpful in the kitchen. ;-)


Once the scallions and chiles have cooked for a few minutes, add some chopped tomatoes and stir well. Let that cook for about 5 minutes.


While I was doing this, I warmed up some beans (from a can) but I didn't get pictures of that. Right at the end, add about 1/2 cup of chopped cilantro and stir. Turn off heat.

Here's what the kids ate.

And here is my plate. It was really yummy and I am glad there are leftovers.