16 Oct / Stir-fried Eggs with Heirloom Tomatoes (西红柿炒鸡蛋)
Ask anyone of Chinese descent and they’ll most likely tell you stir-fried eggs and tomatoes was a staple dish on their when-I-was-growing-up table.
Just like lola’s pancit or obachan’s niku jaga, each family has their own rendition of this homestyle, comforting dish. Yes to Shaoxing Chinese wine; no to cornstarch; soy sauce or salt; tomato ketchup, really?!–these are all variables depending on who you ask.
Funny enough, my mother never made this dish. Then again, my parents always denied their Chinese roots, having grown up in Indonesia where the Chinese were encouraged to assimilate.
Now that we’re well into October, I’m no longer refuting that fall is upon us. Mother Earth cannot be any more obvious. There’s a nip in the air when I step out the door in the mornings. Mr. Sun no longer announces himself with crisp, clear rays streaking through our kitchen window. Instead, he’s muted and shy, rays downcast. And trees all around me are merging into iridescent shades of gold, orange and flame-red.
Despite the signs, I want to cling on to summer just a little bit longer. We’re still grilling. I will insist on wearing my pedal-pushers again tomorrow. Our winter sweaters and coats can stay out of sight for a few more weeks. Most of all, I want to cook with the season’s last tomatoes, ingesting their summery scent deeply and bidding their memory to sustain me through the colder months.
And so it goes I was searching for a tomato recipe. Let me tell you, they’re not difficult to find online. That’s how I came across stir-fried eggs and tomatoes and all its permutations and combinations.
Heirloom tomatoes have such a pretty hue that make this dish pleasing to both the eye and palate.
I sorted through several recipes and came up with my ideal ingredient list: eggs (of course!), heirloom tomatoes, sesame oil, garlic, green onions and salt. Everything came together in a flash.
As I discovered when I was deciding on a recipe that was just right for my family and I, whether you cook the tomatoes or the eggs first is up to you. All that matters is that it’s yours and that you enjoy it.
[yumprint-recipe id=’19’]