Daily Meals · FFET10180
Stir-fried tomato and scrambled eggs
A home-cooked dish of scrambled eggs folded into stir-fried tomato wedges until juicy, eaten over rice.
A round white porcelain plate holds soft golden scrambled eggs folded among juicy red wedges of ripe tomato, with red tomato juices pooling below and green scallion on top, with wooden chopsticks resting beside the plate.
How meals are arranged through the day, and everyday eating habits in the regions.
Stir-fried tomato and scrambled eggs is a common home-cooked dish: the eggs are scrambled in big curds and set aside, tomato wedges are fried until juicy, and the eggs go back in to finish, to be eaten with rice. The ingredients are egg, tomato, salt, sugar and oil, and there is no firm date of origin; a 1935 gardening-magazine item on oil-fried tomato slices with egg used a different technique and does not count as the same dish, while similar dishes in Southeast Asia may be older. The claim that restaurant versions appeared in the 1920s and 1930s and home versions around the 1940s comes only from a 2018 blog post. It is a home-cooked staple with a version in every family, and a childhood favorite of one recipe author.
What
Eggs are scrambled in a hot wok, set aside, and then combined with stir-fried tomato wedges into a juicy, lightly sweet dish eaten with rice. The ingredients are egg, tomato, salt, sugar and oil.1,3,4
When
No dated text for this dish was found. A 1935 gardening-magazine item used a different technique and is not the same dish. The claim that restaurant versions appeared in the 1920s and 1930s and home versions around the 1940s comes only from an unchecked 2018 blog post. Tomatoes reached China around the 17th and 18th centuries by way of the southern coast, a timeline cited indirectly from a farming textbook.1,2
Where
It is cooked in home kitchens all over China, and no source gives a place of origin. The link between early restaurant versions and Western-style restaurants in Shanghai rests only on that blog post; similar dishes in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia may be older.1,2
How
One method beats the eggs with salt, white pepper, sesame oil and Shaoxing wine, scrambles them in 2 tablespoons of oil and sets them aside, fries tomato wedges and scallion for about 1 minute, adds sugar, salt and water, returns the eggs, covers the pan for 1 to 2 minutes, and reduces the sauce over high heat. The other sets the eggs in very hot oil and breaks them up, fries the tomato until juicy, returns the eggs with salt, sugar, light soy sauce and scallion, and serves it at once, giving a drier dish.3,4
Why
No source explains why the dish became so widely made. It is a home-cooked staple with a version in every family, and a childhood favorite of one recipe author.3,4
Impact and influence
It has similarities to shakshouka of the Levant and related dishes in the Philippines. Several food writers have their own methods, and every family has its own version. No intangible heritage listing or production or sales figures were found for it.2,3
No tale about this food has been found.
Grandma Li
This is a simplified home version, not the traditional restaurant method.
This is my simplified home version of tomato and egg, with a little sauce. The ingredients follow the recipe author Sarah, scaled down for two or three people; setting the eggs just barely and lifting them out follows another recipe author, Elaine, whose version is drier and adds light soy sauce, which I leave out. The scaling and the heat are my own choices at home.
Ingredients
- Eggs 3
- Ripe tomatoes 3, about 400 g, cut into wedges
- Scallion 1, whites cut in sections and greens chopped
- Salt about 3 g in all, added in two steps
- White pepper 1 small pinch
- Sesame oil 5 ml
- Cooking wine 5 ml
- Cooking oil 45 ml, used in two steps
- Sugar about 6 g
- Water 60 ml
Steps
- Beat the eggs with 1 g of the salt, the white pepper, sesame oil and wine until smooth.
- Heat the wok, add 30 ml of the oil, and when the oil is very hot pour in the eggs. Let the edges set, push them gently into big curds, and lift them out while they are still a little soft.
- Add the remaining oil to the wok, put in the scallion whites and tomato wedges, and stir-fry for about 1 minute, until the edges of the tomato begin to give up juice.
- Add the sugar, the rest of the salt and the water, and cook until the tomato is soft and juicy.
- Return the eggs to the wok, turn them through the tomato, cover, and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, until the eggs are fully set and no liquid egg is left.
- Uncover, turn the heat up and reduce the sauce to the thickness you like, scatter on the scallion greens, and serve hot with rice.
Tips
- I choose ripe tomatoes, and if they are not ripe enough and taste sour I add a little more sugar; this is my own habit.
- If you like less sauce, use less water or none, and make it drier as in Elaine's recipe.
Allergens: egg, wheat, sesame