tomato and fresh dill omelet

breakfast can be one of the toughest meals of the day for a vegan.  sure you can do a piece of fruit, a cup of coffee, or even a smoothie, but most of the filling – and tasty – morning-time meals are laden with eggs, cheese and meat. luckily, i recently realized that making an animal-free version of a breakfast favorite, the omelet, is a lot easier than i thought.

like in the spinach asparagus quiche i made a while back, all you need to imitate the taste of egg is some silken tofu, liquid aminos and nutritional yeast (with a pinch of turmeric for a convincing color).  i’ve added olive oil and hummus for a smooth, rich texture and to hold it together i added some old fashioned oats and some corn starch.

the result is a crunchy, egg-like pocket filled with warm and gooey goodness, along with the filling of your choice.  instead of the usual combo of tomato basil, i chose to mix it up a bit with fresh dill, a great choice indeed!

tomato and fresh dill omelet
1/3 c oats
1 tbsp corn starch
1/2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1/2 tbsp liquid aminos
3 tbsp water
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp hummus
1/2 block silken tofu
pinch of turmeric
1/2 medium tomato
4-5 sprigs of fresh dill

begin by adding the oats to the blender and blending until they turn into a coarse oat flour.  you can add the other dry ingredients during this step too, like the starch, nutritional yeast and turmeric.  then add the liquid aminos, water, oil and hummus to the dry ingredients and blend until smooth.

finally add the tofu and blend.  i find that adding the tofu last helps achieve the smoothest and thickest texture possible.

lightly mince your dill and chop your tomato and set aside.  if you want to add sauteed ingredients like mushrooms or spinach, cook those first and set aside.

generously grease a large frying pan and with olive oil or non-stick cooking spray and let it heat up on medium heat.  once hot, pour the mixture from the blender into the center of the pan.  you can make it even by picking up the pan and gently shaking it back and forth until it settles.

while it’s cooking make sure it does not stick to the pan by continuing to lightly shake it and use a spatula to gently lift it in any spots that seems to be stuck.

let cook until the center of the omelet looks like it’s beginning to solidity, then you can add the toppings evenly.

cook a minute or too more until the dill is starting to wilt.  then turn off the heat and flip the omelet over with the spatula – or if you’re really good you can do this by tossing it in the pan, but be careful, it’s fragile.

serve immediately while still warm.

yields 1 omelet