Tomato Scrambled Eggs

Although I live in China, I don't cook much Chinese food because of how easy it is to get great takeout here. I do make a couple of simple dishes, however, when I'm not feeling like agonizing through a Mandarin-language phone call to one of the nearby restaurants for delivery or going out to pick up takeout from one of those same restaurants. (Laziness is sometimes a good thing!)


The following recipe is from a friend here originally from another part of Manchuria, but there are other recipes for this dish (called 西红柿炒鸡蛋 or xīhóngshì chǎo jīdàn in Mandarin) here and here. (I actually really like the suggestion of garnishing the dish with chopped green onion - it's not how my friend taught me to serve it, but it sounds delicious!) My recipe is for one, so if you're wanting to serve a bigger group increase the ingredients accordingly! I'm not sure when it's normal to have xi hong shi chao ji dan, but for me it's a breakfast food served as is, although it's great over rice too. Whenever you have it, enjoy!

Tomato Scrambled Eggs

Ingredients
1 tablespoon of olive oil*
2 eggs
1 tablespoon of water or milk
1 large tomato (sliced)
Pepper (to taste)
Salt (to taste)
Sugar (to taste)
1 teaspoon of soy sauce
2 cloves of garlic (crushed or minced)
Chicken bouillon granules** (to taste)
1 green onion stalk (chopped)

*I actually add a little bit of sesame oil to my olive oil, it adds a great flavor to the end product! If you don't have that available though, don't sweat it!
**Or another type if you don't eat meat.

Directions
1) Lord, bless!
2) Heat the olive oil in a frying pan (or wok if you have one). While the oil is heating whisk the eggs and water or milk together with a pinch of salt and then add to the pan, lightly stirring until the eggs are cooked. Set aside.
3) Add the tomato to the pan (leaving the remaining oil in the pan) and sauté until the juice begins to come out of the slices.
4) Sprinkle salt, sugar, and pepper over the tomato, stir to combine, and return the cooked eggs to the pan. (Go easy on the salt - if there's not enough when you taste the dish at the end you can always add more.)
5) Add the soy sauce and garlic to the pan and sauté another couple of minutes.
6) Just before turning off the heat sprinkle chicken bouillon granules over the pan and stir to combine.
7) Serve the tomato and eggs as is or over rice, garnish with the green onion, and enjoy!