Tomato and Egg Stir-fry without Ketchup

Tomato and Egg Stir-fry should be the start-up dish for any Chinese kids, for it’s quick, tasty and nutritious. I believe everyone has their own version of Tomato and Egg Stir-fry, however, most people would prefer a little ketchup to enrich the taste. In this post, I would like to share with you how to make tasty stir-fried tomato and egg without using ketchup.

First of all, I want to talk about ‘stir-fry’ / ‘chao’, the most common and basic technique in Chinese cooking. Generally speaking, ingredients are cooked and stirred in hot oil over high heat till they are fully cooked. But there is a misunderstanding that you need to keep stir the ingredients with frying spoon continuously. The fact is that, no matter pan-fry or stir-fry, you need to let the ingredients stay in hot pan or wok for a while till the bottom side is cooked or turns golden, then you flip to the other side, if you are capable, or you stir to the other side with the help of a frying spoon, wait for a while, then again, and again, till all cooked.

Besides, hot oil can not only produce richer colour and taste, but can help to release more lycopene from tomato. Research suggest that intestinal absorption of lycopene is enhanced by the presence of fat and by cooking.

Ingredients –
Tomatoes, 3
Eggs, 2;
Garlic, 2 cloves;
Spring onion, half stalk;
Salt, sugar and olive oil.

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How to do –
1. Choose tomatoes in good quality and bright red;

2. When cooking tomatoes, I would prefer them peeled. You could soak tomatoes in hot water for a few seconds then peel, or you could just use a peeler, there is peeler for juicy fruits;

3. Two tomatoes cut into big chunks and 1 thinly diced;

4. Let’s make the scrambled egg first. Whisk 2 large eggs with a nip of salt. Heat generous olive oil in hot wok, pour in the whisked eggs, wait till the bottom side is set, then break and stir-fry with frying spoon till it’s scrambled and cooked, remove from the wok;

5. Add a little more oil in the wok, put in the diced tomato, in medium-high heat, stir-fry, press and mash with fry spoon, till the amount reduced and colour deeper and richer;

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6. Put in 2 sliced garlic and stir-fry till fragrant. It’s optional but garlic and tomato are good combination;

7. Put in big tomato chunks, flip well and stir-fry with the tomato puree for 1 minute;

8. Put the scrambled egg back in the wok, seasoned with half teaspoon of salt and sugar, stir well;

9. Sprinkle a small pinch of chopped spring onion on top then serve, better with steamed rice.