Tomato and Egg Stir-Fry: The Ten-Minute Chinese Home Dish That Rewards Ripe Tomatoes

Fanqie chao dan, tomato and egg stir-fry, is likely the first dish many Chinese children learn to cook and the one many adults cook when they are tired. It has three ingredients that matter and a method that takes less than ten minutes. The eggs are scrambled to a barely set curd and set aside, the tomatoes are cooked down into a loose, glossy sauce, and the eggs go back in at the end. Done well it is soft, juicy and savoury, with a gentle sourness from the tomato. Done badly it is watery and grey, and the difference is almost entirely timing and the quality of the tomatoes.

Ingredients

Serves two to three with rice.

• 4 large eggs
• 3 medium ripe tomatoes, about 450 g (1 lb), the riper the better
• 1 teaspoon Shaoxing wine, or dry sherry, optional
• 3/4 teaspoon fine salt, divided
• 1 to 2 teaspoons sugar, to taste
• 3 tablespoons neutral oil, divided
• 2 spring onions (scallions), whites and greens separated, thinly sliced
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon light soy sauce, optional

Method

1. Cut a shallow cross in the base of each tomato, pour boiling water over them, leave 30 seconds, then peel; the skins slip off. This is optional, but the sauce is smoother. Cut into thick wedges, or into eighths if large.
2. Beat the eggs with a pinch of the salt and the wine until fully mixed, with no streaks of white.
3. Heat a wok or large frying pan over high heat until very hot. Add 2 tablespoons of the oil and let it shimmer. Pour in the eggs. They should puff and bubble at the edges. Let them sit for 10 seconds, then push gently from the edges to the middle and fold, for about 40 seconds, until about 80 percent set and still glossy. Slide onto a plate.
4. Return the pan to the heat with the remaining oil. Fry the spring onion whites for 15 seconds, then add the tomatoes. Cook, pressing them against the pan, for 2 to 3 minutes, until they start to collapse.
5. Add the remaining salt, the sugar and the water. Simmer for 2 minutes, until the sauce is loose and thick enough to coat a spoon. Taste: it should be savoury with a little sweetness behind the acid.
6. Return the eggs, fold gently through the sauce for 20 to 30 seconds without breaking them up, scatter the spring onion greens and serve at once over steamed rice.

Notes

The sugar is the family argument. Cooks in the south and east, including Shanghai, tend to add a generous spoonful for a sweet-sour sauce, while the north leans savoury with more salt and a little soy. Start with one teaspoon and adjust to the tomatoes, since a poor, pale tomato needs more. Out of season, a spoonful of tomato ketchup or a teaspoon of tomato paste restores depth. Cook the eggs in two stages and never to firm, as they will keep cooking in the sauce. Some cooks add a splash of starch slurry, 1 teaspoon cornflour in 2 tablespoons of water, for a thicker sauce, though it is not traditional in most homes. Eggs and tomatoes together make a cheap, balanced plate with rice and a green vegetable; the NHS describes where eggs and other protein foods sit in the food types section of its eating guidance. Chill leftovers within two hours, keep for one day, and reheat until piping hot; the Food Standards Agency's note on chilling explains why. It does not freeze well, as the tomato turns watery. Add a handful of spinach or leftover rice and it becomes a full dinner. For another quick egg and tomato dish with a different starting point, try our Turkish menemen.