If you’ve never experienced eating your scrambled eggs with a sticky sauce, it’s high time you did. The sauce transforms the texture of soft curdly eggs in a way that’s hard to explain without using too many superlatives.
Sauce? Yep. That liquid you see in the photo is only partly from the sauteed tomatoes. Much of it is a combination of broth and starch. Vegetable broth was used in this recipe but chicken broth will be just as good, if not even better.
If you’re used to cooking scrambled eggs the Western way, set that formula for now. The eggs here are cooked to the consistency of wet curds, removed from the pan and added back later.
In the same pan, tomatoes and scallions are sauteed, the broth with corn starch is poured in and cooked until thick and clear, and then the cooked eggs are stirred in long enough to heat them through. By that time, eggs and tomatoes are glistening with the sticky sauce.
Chinese Scrambled Eggs with Tomatoes
Ingredients
- 4 plump tomatoes
- 4 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon corn starch
- ½ cup vegetable broth
- 4 teaspoons cooking oil divided
- ¼ cup sliced scallions divided
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- Cut the tomatoes into wedges.
- Lightly beat the eggs.
- Dump the corn starch in 1/3 cup of vegetable broth and mix until smooth.
- Heat half of the cooking oil in a frying pan.
- Pour in the eggs and, over medium-low heat, cook with constant stirring just until the edges are set but the center is still wet (see how to cook perfect scrambled eggs).
- Scoop out the eggs and move to a plate.
- Heat the remaining oil in the frying pan. Turn up the heat to medium.
- Saute the tomato wedges with half of the scallions. Sprinkle in the salt and pepper. Cook until the tomatoes are softened.
- Pour in the broth-starch solution. Cook, stirring, until thickened and clear. If the sauce appears too thick, pour in the remaining broth and stir until smooth. Taste and add more salt and pepper, IF needed.
- Add the eggs to the tomatoes. Stir gently. Cook just until heated through.
- Sprinkle the remaining scallions over the Chinese scrambled eggs with tomatoes before serving. It’s good with bread or rice.
