Peruvian-style Plant based Quinoa Chaufa with Scrambled Tofu and Vegetables

Chaufa is a traditional Peruvian dish with Chinese and Peruvian flavors. It is traditionally made with rice but in this recipe, we used white quinoa to provide more protein and fiber. It is a delicious dish with and rich and hearty mouthfeel and a spiced earthy aroma. We switched the scrambled eggs to scrambled tofu to make it 100% plant based.

Appropriate for

Diets

1 cup white quinoa (other options red, black or tricolor quinoa)

2 cups low sodium vegetable broth or stock (1 cup contains 125mg sodium), or you could also use water but add 1/ 4 teaspoon of salt

½ cup small diced red bell pepper

½ cup small diced carrots

½ block (200grams) extra firm tofu (pressed to have remove water and better texture)

½ cup red onions (alternative: yellow onions)

1 tablespoon of minced garlic

1 tablespoon of minced ginger

1 teaspoon turmeric

½ teaspoon cumin

1 tablespoon of coconut amino 1 tbsp 270mg sodium (or low sodium soy sauce or tamari)

1 teaspoon Peruvian yellow pepper paste (aji amarillo) - optional or if you want some heat use red pepper flakes (150mg sodium) or use Traditional Tabasco

½ cup green onions

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon sesame seeds (garnish)

½ lemon juice (garnish)

1 cilantro leaf (garnish)

Directions

Prep

15mins

Cook

15mins

Total

30mins

First cook the quinoa. Rinse quinoa before cooking, in a strainer hold under cold water until water runs clear.
Combine 1 cup quinoa with 2 cups of water or vegetable broth in a pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover with lid and simmer for about 15 minutes.
In a hot wok or pan, add sesame oil, cook red onion until translucent.
Add garlic and ginger until aromatic without burning. Then add cumin until aromatic.
Crumble tofu and add turmeric and Peruvian spicy yellow pepper/Aji Amarillo optional until looks like scrambled eggs, then add the rest of the veggies (red bell peppers and carrots) and the cooked quinoa.
Add the green onions and coconut aminos. Garnished with cilantro, sesame seeds and lemon juice.

Substitutes:

- if you don’t have white quinoa you can use red, black or tricolor quinoa, white or brown rice.

- if you don’t have the Peruvian spicy yellow pepper or paste, you could add pepper flakes, cayenne or tabasco to add a spicy kick.

- Here we used coconut aminos taste like soy sauce and it is low sodium, if you don’t have it you could use low sodium tamari or low sodium soy sauce.

Meal types

Nutritional information

Calories 352
Carbohydrates 40 g
Fiber 6 g
Total Sugars 0 g
Protein 16 g
Saturated Fat 1.8 g
Cholesterol 0 mg
Sodium 353 mg
Potassium 630 mg
Iron 13 mg
Phosphorus 369 mg

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