The comforting Chinese dish that my mother made when life has become busy

In the West, eggs are often associated with breakfast and brunch. But growing up in Hong Kong, I learned that the eggs were perfectly acceptable dinner dishes. At least once a week, my mother was preparing Chinese scrambled eggs with shrimp, Siu (grilled pork) or tomatoes, which we eaten alongside steamed fish, a sort of sautéed green vegetables and, of course, shore. Of all variations on Chinese scrambled eggs, my favorite is the version with tomatoes.

Affectionately called “tomato egg” in Chinese households, the dish consists of sweet tomatoes and legs folded in tender scrambled eggs. A touch of shaoxing wine brings a subtle sweetness, while soy sauce and toasted sesame oil give it a salted depth. Each family, however, has its own version of tomato egg. As Jenny Dorsey wrote, contributing to Serious Eats, in his recipe nominated at the James Beard price for the dish, “the variations in tomato and egg are endless and constantly evolving.”

Most of the versions, including those of Dorsey, require only a few pantry staples and take less than 20 minutes to prepare. To do it, you start by gently bluring the eggs in a wok or a pan. Once the eggs are cooked, you transfer them to a plate and add green onions, garlic and ginger to wok or pan and cook until they are flavored and softened. Then go to the tomatoes, and once they have softened, the eggs go up and everything is stirred together.

Although the recipe from our site does not call ketchup, I remove a page from my mother’s book and I edulp the tomatoes with a tablespoon or two of ketchup, as well as a pinch of sugar, which improves the natural sweetness of tomatoes. The dish is particularly delicious when it is made with ripe tomatoes in season, but I replace myself with whole prune tomatoes canned when there are no plump and juicy tomatoes near me. Like tomato eggs were a basic food in my parents’ table as it grows up, it has become an essential dinner for my family today – and when my son is old enough to cook, it will probably be the first thing I teach him, because everyone should have some quick and budgetary egg recipes in their rear pocket.