Dear Readers, I've got an amazing vegan recipe for you today! It's the most delicious egg salad made...without eggs! You will not believe how much this tastes like regular egg salad and you may become addicted to this like me. I've made this for Mr NQN's lunch so many times as well as picnics and gatherings with the in laws. If you want to try an amazing vegan recipe that tastes just as good as the non vegan version this is a pushy recipe!
Ivy first put me onto vegan egg salad. She's a part time vegan (vegan-curious) and gave me half of her vegan egg sandwich from the 711. I took a bite and was pretty amazed. It was exactly like a regular egg sandwich! "What is this sorcery?" I asked. It turns out that vegan egg salad uses tofu. Yup tofu in place of eggs.
I know, a lot of you don't like tofu and that's fine. We don't eat it that much but I had to give this a go and every since then I've always made "egg" salad with tofu. Hear me out: I actually prefer using tofu because I hate boiling and peeling eggs. I'm lucky enough to get lots of eggs from Valentina and because they're so fresh they can be hard to peel. Also tofu doesn't have any cholesterol so if that is an issue then please give this a try. Or if you're just curious give it a go too!
Tips for Making a Vegan Egg Salad
1 - The number 1 tip and the ingredient you MUST get to make vegan egg salad is Indian black salt or Kala Namak. Despite its name it's actually a very fine pink coloured salt with a sulfurous aroma. This is what gives the eggy smell and this vegan egg salad will not work without it. It's available at any Indian store - just ask them for kala namak or the salt that smells like eggs.
2 - I tried this with classic tofu and regular firm tofu and they both worked well. Silken tofu will be too soft for this. I didn't use extra firm and I did not want the tofu too firm because I liked the squish the tofu down a bit so that you wouldn't get big chunks of tofu because the seasoning won't permeate those and it tastes like tofu. It kind of takes you out of the zone IYKWIM.
3 - A very important step is to press the water out of the tofu using paper towels for 30 minutes before you make the egg salad. I lay a double layer of paper towels down and place a single layer of tofu on top and two paper towels and then weigh it down under a plate and something heavy. I also change the paper towels once during this process to make sure that all of the water is taken out of the tofu. Otherwise your egg salad will leak liquid out of it and that isn't what you want.
4 - Turmeric gives it a yellow colour that mimics egg yolks. I love pickles and chives in my egg salad but you do you! You can use your favourite egg salad dressing but just make sure to use the kala namak salt.
5 - This "egg" salad is great made a day or two ahead too just kept in a container ready to fill sandwiches or you can serve it with crackers as a dip!
I know that this is the kind of recipe that may not be very popular because when I told my friends about this you could see their initial excitement fade as soon as I mentioned tofu. But really the proof is in the tasting. I would not have believed it myself unless I had tried it. I wouldn't bring you this recipe unless it tasted just as good as the real thing. Mr NQN was shook too when I told him that the egg salad was made without any eggs.
Not all vegan dishes are as good a dupe as this. I went to an event a couple of weeks ago and met this really lovely couple. One of the girls was vegan and by default so was her partner because they tended to eat the same sort of food and she told me that she loved a vegan sandwich shop. She particularly liked their bacon and egg sandwich and I was intrigued by it because I love a good sandwich and I promised her that I would go. "Let me know what you think of it!" she said.
The next day I dragged Mr NQN to the sandwich shop and ordered the bacon and egg sandwich. It smelled great and I couldn't wait to get home and give it a go. I sliced it in half and took a bite.
It was terrible. Like AWFUL.
For starters it tasted nothing like bacon and eggs. It tasted like not much of anything. I was so disappointed. I couldn't bring myself to message her because she was so lovely. But I don't think I'll be following her vegan suggestions!
So tell me Dear Reader, have you ever tried vegan egg salad? Do you dabble in veganism or vegetarianism?
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