Stir-fried egg and tomato is a Chinese dish, I’m pretty sure, but I only know it from my youth in California, and the home cooking of my Chinese-Malaysian mom, who was born and raised in Malaysia. If it’s not the official Chinese version, I apologize. This is chunks of tomato scrambled with eggs that have been seasoned gently but purposefully with white pepper, Shaoxing wine, and sesame oil. It’s boring-sounding but actually revelatory, and seriously the easiest, best comfort food.
4 servings
- Beat the eggs with 1 teaspoon of the salt, the white pepper, Shaoxing wine, and sesame oil—not too aggressively, and definitely not until they’re frothy—just so the whites and yolks are incorporated and the mixture is uniformly yellow.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large nonstick skillet or wok over medium heat. Add the egg mixture to the skillet or wok, cooking until the eggs are just barely setting and pulling together, about 10 seconds. Transfer to a bowl and wipe out the pan with a paper towel.
- Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil in the same pan over medium heat. Add the tomatoes and stir until the tomatoes start to look wilted (their peels will sort of shrivel) and they release their juices, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle the sugar and remaining ¼ teaspoon salt all over, and stir for another minute.
- Return the eggs to the pan along with the sliced scallions and cook, stirring occasionally, until the eggs are cooked through, another minute. Serve right away.
Reprinted from All About Eggs: Everything We Know About the World’s Most Important Food. Copyright © 2017 by Lucky Peach, LLC. Photographs and illustrations copyright © 2017 by Tamara Shopsin and Jason Fulford. Published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of Penguin Random House, LLC.
