Only three common ingredients needed! Simple yet delicious, tomato and egg stir-fry is truly a national dish adored by every family in China.
tomato & egg stir-fry is truly a national dish
I’m wondering if any of you know what the colours of the Chinese Olympic team uniform are. They are red and yellow, representing the national flag. However, Chinese people are not very impressed by the design and have given it an unofficial nickname “Tomato and egg stir-fry”.
Although mocked by the public, I don’t think the designer should feel ashamed. After all, tomato and egg stir-fry is truly a national dish, simple yet delicious, and adored by every family in China.
Only 3 common ingredients needed
In their very first attempt at cooking, most Chinese children are taught to cook “tomato and egg stir-fry”. It’s a simple dish that involves no difficulties. And it’s cheap to make. Whenever I’m in a hurry, the idea of cooking tomato and egg stir-fry always comes to my rescue.
Only THREE common ingredients needed for this dish: tomato, egg and garlic (I don’t include oil, salt and sugar, I assume you always have them in the kitchen).
It gives you layers of flavours
It takes only a few minutes to cook this dish. Simply accompanied by a bowl of plain rice or noodles, it makes a complete meal. Less is more. Although it involves neither fancy ingredients nor complicated techniques, tomato and egg stir-fry is by no mean a plain dish. It gives you layers of flavours, such as sour, salty, sweet, garlicky, and pleasant textures from mushy tomato and fluffy egg.
A few tips for this super simple dish
Recently in an online conversation, my old school friend Hua recalled: “You made tomato and egg stir-fry for us. I remember you used a strange method that was different from my family’s. It was delicious.” We were teenage girls back then, having an exciting dinner party when our parents were not around.
I don’t have any recollection of the dish I made, not to mention the special method that impressed my friend. However, after years of practice in the kitchen, I do have a few tips for this super simple dish.
- Add a little water to the raw egg to make it fluffier and tenderer when cooked.
- Use ripe tomatoes and peel off the skin. This makes the dish more flavoursome, juicier and gives it a better texture.
- Use garlic to enhance the fragrance. It goes very well with tomato and egg (This is my personal preference. Many people use spring onion instead).
Tomato and egg stir-fry (番茄炒蛋)
Ingredients
- 3 ripe tomatoes
- 3 eggs
- 3 cloves garlic - sliced
- 2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon cooking oil
- 1 tablespoon water
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 pinch sugar
- 1 tablespoon chopped spring onion - for garnishing, optional
Instructions
- Peel off the skin of the tomatoes (see note). Then cut them into small chunks.
- Beat the eggs with 1 tablespoon of water.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a wok (or a frying pan) on high heat. Pour in eggs when oil smokes. When the edge is cooked, push to one side to let uncooked part touch the bottom of the wok. Take the egg out as soon as there is no more liquid (do not overcook).
- Put 1 teaspoon of oil to the same wok, cook tomato and garlic on medium heat until tomato is a little mushy.
- Add cooked egg. Roughly break up the egg with the end of a spatula. Sprinkle salt and sugar, then give everything a quick stir.
- Garnish with spring onion before serving if you wish.
NOTES
- Cut a small cross on each tomato.
- Place them in very hot water.
- Take them out when you see the cut split.
- Pull the skin off when cool enough to touch.
NUTRITION
NUTRITION DISCLOSURE: Nutritional information on this website is provided as a courtesy to readers. It should be considered estimates. Please use your own brand nutritional values or your preferred nutrition calculator to double check against our estimates.
I have 3 18 year old Chinese boys living with us. They requested this and I’ve been making it but I didn’t know it was a real Chinese national dish with an actual recipe. The recipe is much better. Now I know the secrets to its success. Thank you Wei!
I’m loving your site with great recipes and “how-tos.”
This dish is indeed a remedy for homesickness. Very happy you and your guest boys enjoyed it!
Your recipes are loved as we grew up with the dishes you cook, and no restaurant seems to add ginger root to any of their tomato dishes. We were always used to having the taste of ginger with our tomato & beef, so do not know WHY restaurants leave this out of their Chinese dishes.
Enjoy watching you cook with Dude eating & enjoying each dish. Keep up the good videos. From Toronto, Canada.
Dear Wei – thank you for this delicious recipe. It brought back tender memories of this dish shared with me by loved ones who I no longer see. <3 your recipes are treasure. And thank you for the Chinese characters-it is very helpful for my Chinese language learning!
All the best to you and thank you for sharing your culture, knowledge, and treasures with us Mx. Wei 🙏🏻
So happy to hear that Lori! Sharing recipes is also my way to connect with sweet memories. Glad you find my recipes helpful.
Dear Mx. Wei, I’m sorry – in saying “thank you for sharing with us” I think how I said may imply that people in your audience do not share your culture. My intended meaning in saying “us” is to refer to we who are your audience. 🙏🏻 I am sorry for any harm my comment may have caused and will take more care in expression before sharing in future ❤️
Oh No Lori! Your kind comment wouldn’t cause any harm to anyone. I’m thankful that you took the time to give feedback to my recipe. Have a great day!
Ok, noted 🤗 hope you have a great day too! 💕