Once upon a time Bill and I were junk food vegans. We sought out the best in vegan junk food throughout the country when we would travel. One of the things we encountered along the way was a breakfast called The Nebulous Potato Thing. We think it is probably one of the coolest names ever for a breakfast. It was delightfully filled with potatoes, peppers, beans, vegan sour cream, vegan cheese and – it was fried with lots of oil on the grill. Now it sounds pretty gross to me, but at the time…I remember eating until I felt gross.
Those days are gone now and I can eat until I am comfortably full without feeling gross. Today I set out to recreate a healthy version of the Nebulous breakfast, which I am dubbing:
The Urban Cowboy
You will need:
a bag of frozen Ore Ida hashbrowns (or 6 large russet potatoes diced)
4 sweet peppers
1 hot pepper (or sub another sweet pepper if you don’t like heat)
1/2 bag of frozen corn
1-2 packages of extra firm tofu diced (you can sub any bean if you like)
Cayenne Pepper, Smoked Paprika & Fiesta Lime Seasoning – to taste
1 jar/package Frontera Guacamole mix
1/2 cup or so of shredded purple cabbage
6 green onions diced
a handful of diced cilantro
salsa for topping if you’d like
Makes 4 large servings
Add hash browns to a hot non-stick pan along with the peppers that you have sliced into rings and the corn. Add NO water or broth to the pan…just be patient, heating the potatoes on medium, leave them sit long enough to start to brown – in other words…leave them alone for a bit, you can check them with a spatula, but you don’t need to constantly stir them. The potatoes will begin to brown. As seen here…
In another pan… coat the bottom of the pan with a mix of these spices, use as little or as much heat ast you’d like with the cayenne. Skip it entirely if you don’t like spicy.
It should look like this…
Add in your cubed tofu – or your can of beans (drained) then toss them with the spices and set on medium heat.
Meanwhile back at the ranch…
keep tossing the potatoes every 3 minutes or so as they continue to brown. When they are browned to your liking…Then add in your jar of Guacamole mix. I use this because it is relatively low in sodium per serving compared to most salsas and I like the flavor.
toss it all together and lower the heat to low.
In your other pan of tofu(or beans)… you want to heat them thoroughly or brown your tofu.
now, toss in your diced cabbage to the potato mixture and then turn off the heat, let sit for 5 minutes. You want it to be al dente, not soggy. So it only takes a few minutes.
It should you look like this:
now assemble your plate:
potato mixture first, then add on your tofu or beans, top with cilantro and green onions, salsa if you’d like and serve with half a plate of greens. Garnish with lime slices – squeeze over the whole plate 🙂
perfect for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Wrapped in a collard wrap, or a Engine 2 tortilla.
Ami Cooks 