Chinese Eggs and Tomatoes

Serves 3

This is a traditional dish from central China and every family has their own version. Have fun altering it to suit your tastes. The friend that gave me the idea of the recipe is from Sichuan province and added a lot of chillis. 

Alexander

Ingredients

6 eggs

1 tablespoon water and ¼ cup water separated

1/4 tsp white sugar, or to taste

6 to 7 Roma tomatoes, can use regular tomato used in salads

3 cloves garlic, minced

/4 tsp brown sugar, or to taste

Small amount of oil

1/2 tsp ground white pepper, or to taste

~3 tablespoons dark soy sauce, add more if using regular soy sauce

Short grain rice, cooked

Toppings

Green onions, chopped

Sesame oil

Instructions

Core and cube tomatoes.

Beat eggs with approximately one tablespoon of water and white sugar. Set aside.

Preheat large frying pan. Fry garlic in a small quantity of oil. Before garlic turns colour, add brown sugar cook on medium heat until sugar caramelizes. Add tomatoes with approximately 1/4 cup water. Cover and simmer. 

Meanwhile, in another large pan, heat a thin layer of oil on high until hot. The idea with the oil is to have enough to prevent the egg from even touching the pan and for it to be hot enough to form bubbles. Add a third of the egg and scramble by using a spatula to collect the cooked ‘skin’ that forms on the bottom of the pan to one side while letting the uncooked egg drain onto the open pan and repeat until egg is cooked. Repeat with the remaining egg, refreshing oil as needed. Roughly chop eggs into small to medium pieces. Add eggs to tomatoes along with white pepper and soy sauce. Simmer until tomatoes are soft and liquid has evaporated.  Top with chopped green onions and sesame oil and serve with rice. Enjoy!