Introduction

Last week, I was contacted by a reporter from Bulgarian Nova TV and the Guardian newspaper. They wanted ideas on egg substitutes. This made me realise that the egg shortage is not restricted to Australia.

The wonderful Jesika who has graduated from the Vegan Chef Training alerted me a few weeks ago about the shortage and the horrific death of so many chickens due to Avian flu virus H5N1. 

I had already done 10 days’ worth of social media on egg substitutes and I thought I better get a news flash podcast out to all you wonderful listeners to get you some really fabulous egg substitute ideas, so you can save some money, not worry about contracting a strain of bird flu and eat some sensationally delicious food that doesn’t contain eggs. 

So get your note jotter out and listen to this episode, episode number 21 for some epic egg alternatives.

Right now, we really have a terrible egg shortage but there is a solution to this mess.

Avian flu virus H5N1 has seen egg manufacturers killing millions of birds world wide.

Brad McAuliffe in Victoria has had to kill 540,000 of his chickens from his free range farm.  Yep, wonderful listeners, it is not discriminating between factory farmed or free range chickens. Who knows if it could also spread to backyard chickens. 

Poor chickens.

I know a lot of people are concerned as they have come to rely on eggs.  

But do not fear. 

I am here, 

with some fabulous egg substitution ideas.  

I had someone tell me recently that they had to reintroduce eggs into their diet as they couldn’t find any substitutes that were anywhere near as delicious as eggs.  

My thought straight away was - 

Well, you haven’t tried my recipes. 

There are many reasons why 

>    eggs are a big thing on everyone’s meal repertoire

>    they are easy to make 

>    they are a quickish snack (because, let’s face it, a boiled egg can take at least 5 minutes to boil, so not all that quick when you really think about it) 

>    they are full of protein 

>    you can eat them every day 

>    They are good as binders in cakes and fritters. 

Can you eat eggs every day?

The one where I say you can eat them every day.

Because I really do believe that we are all eating far too many eggs

When I was growing up the egg board was only allowed to advertise that up to three eggs a week were good for you. Any more than that was deemed too much bad cholesterol in your diet.

Now I know people who eat three a day these days . Holey moley.

I was guilty of having 2 eggs a meal – far too many eggs. 

I thought it was an easy protein fix. 

Little did I realise that I was at risk of bad bacteria entering my system and that I wasn’t getting enough of the other nutrients I needed by eating eggs.

Did you know that in Australia, chefs are no longer allowed to make mayonnaise with eggs, due to the bacteria that is in an uncooked egg? 

Likewise, the health and safety regulations in Australia say that you need to wash your hands after cracking eggs. Have you ever watched a chef crack eggs and then go on to add spring onions, salt, etc. without washing their hands?

Next time that salt is used to add extra salt onto your salad there is every risk of getting sick.  

Protein and Omelette Substitutes 

In 1 large egg, there is 6 g of protein – for my size I need to have 16 g of protein per meal, so 2 eggs doesn’t come close to the protein I need.

I use an egg substitute for making an omelette: an eggy roll. I share the recipe on YouTube and in the show notes. The eggy roll has 33g of protein, enough for 5.5 eggs. 

The eggy roll uses silken tofu and mung bean flour.  I will do a whole podcast on mung beans, as I really think they could save the world from a whole lot of medical expenses.

Then you can make an omelette using split mung beans, also known as moong dhal. I got this idea from making chilla, which is an Indian breakfast pancake. There is also a product currently on the shelves called Just Egg, which is made from split mung beans and a lot of preservatives.

So you would be better off to learn how to make omelette.  I have a YouTube video on that too. 

What you do is, soak 1 cup moong dhal overnight, then strain from the water.

Place in the blender with ½ cup water and blitz until smooth. Then, that is your omelette mix. You can then add whatever you like. Cooked mushrooms and potatoes, for example.

As it is, it is not quite a complete protein but it would be if you ate it with bread or rice.

Check out episode #4 of the podcast on complete protein.  Also, you can sign up for my free complete protein chart.

I put in some grated tofu, then add peas and spring onions and it is the bomb – it is tastier than an egg one any day.

Scrambles 

Tofu scramble. There are plenty of Indian style scrambled tofu recipes and I have a very delicious Mexican scramble tofu recipe

Or you can make a bechamel sauce using soy milk, besan flour, Dijon mustard, nutritional yeast turmeric and black salt.

¼ cup besan flour 

1 cup or more soy milk 

1 tsp Dijon mustard

¼ cup nutritional yeast

¼ to ½ tsp turmeric for colour 

1 tsp black salt*

*It’s not black it is pink

You fry the tofu a little, add a bit of salt and pepper, then when the bechamel is made, stir it through the tofu. That makes a really creamy scrambled tofu.

I also love to fry tofu really thin and add a dollop of bechamel on it. That really does taste like fried egg, especially when it is on toast. 

Then if you add one of my bacon substitutes, 

this will really give an eggy taste.

Snack Substitutes 

I know that boiled eggs can act as a really quick and easy snack idea. Here are some alternative ideas to a boiled egg.

Tofu is a great snack you can marinate with ¼ cup olive oil, ¼ cup nutritional yeast, ¼ cup of lemon juice and 1 tsp salt - then pan fry or oven or air fry until crisp and brown. 

One egg has 6 - 7g protein, depending on size, and 100g of tofu has 17g protein. So you only need 50g of tofu to get the same protein hit, and nutritional yeast gives you as much B12 as an egg.

Another option is a handful of nuts and pepita seeds, making sure to include pistachios and Brazil nuts. You can also add hemp seeds.

Another snack option is veggie sticks and hummus, as hummus is also a complete protein like eggs are. You would need ½ cup of hummus to get the same amount of protein.  I share the recipe for hummus in episode # 4 of the show.

Rice and lentil balls, which you can make and freeze and take out as you wish also have more protein than an egg.

Maybe these aren’t as quick as boiling an egg- but nuts and seeds are. 

There are some ways you can make this easier 

>    Tofu. You can cook up a batch on Sunday for a few days.

>    With the rice balls, you can have them for a meal, for a salad, then freeze the rest – you can also buy a triangle sushi mould  – which makes them easier and fun to make. 

>    With the veggie sticks, you can either make them in the morning when making a cup of tea, or munch on them whole – why not? 

Black Salt 

Black salt is actually a dirty pink in colour. It comes from the Himalayas and is a sulphurous salt, so when you smell and taste it, it tastes just like eggs. You can add this to your scramble and omelettes.  

Binding substitutions 

The following are all wonderful binding substitutions for eggs 

Chia 

Flax 

Banana

Apple sauce 

In fritters, use chia seeds. 1 tbsp of chia seeds mixed with 3 tbsp of water makes one egg.  So if your recipe says three eggs, you use 3 tbsp chia seeds with 9 tbsp water.

In cakes, I use ground flax seeds, the ratio is the same as chia seeds.

Bananas in cakes and muffins. 1 banana is the same as 1 egg.

Apple sauce. ¼ cup of apple sauce is equivalent to 1 egg.  However, with apple sauce, you can only use ½ a cup in a cake. Any more and the cake will crumble.

Recipe 

Mayonnaise 

To make mayonnaise, you can do the following. Note it’s important to put the soy milk in first as it won’t work otherwise.

½ cup soy milk 

1 cup sunflower oil 

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar 

1 tsp Dijon mustard 

¾ tsp salt 

For the mayonnaise, place the soy milk in the blender first, then all of the other ingredients. Blend for less than a minute.

FCT 

Two fun cooking tips from this podcast 

1. When you cut your carrot and celery veggie sticks, store them in water in the fridge, as they will stay crispier this way.

2. For some fun, put your mayonnaise in a squeezy bottle, so you can make cool patterns with it.

Hope you have a sensationally delicious day and please share the podcast with friends and on socials. That would make me so happy.

Bye for now.