酸甜西红柿炒蛋 Sweet and Sour Tomato and Egg

Tomato and Egg has been a favorite of mine for a long time. Quick and easy to prepare and so tasty.
I made this for some of my family that have never been to China and they said they had never seen or eaten anything like this.
It is a very interesting combination of ingredients and I love the way they work together. I love sharing the authentic flavors of China with anyone I can. I love China and it is one of the only ways I have available to me to allow my friends and family to have a little bit of a china experience. People from Beijing will tell you that they came up with tomato egg but it is all over China now. I first had this dish at a buffet style restaurant in Taiwan. I have seen just about any vegetable with egg including: spinach, green beans, garlic chives, green chilies, ect. Egg really livens and freshens up some of those bitter greens. I love spinach egg where I don't really enjoy garlic spinach by itself.

4 large eggs

3 small tomatoes, blanched and skins removed, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 inch ginger, grated (or 1/2 tsp. ground ginger)

1 green onion

2 Tbsp. ketchup

1 Tbsp. Chinese rice wine
1 Tbsp. Chinese black vinegar

1 tsp. soy sauce

1/4-1/2 cup water (you can add more if you want more sauce)

sugar to taste

salt to taste

2 drops sesame oil

Bring water to a boil and add tomatoes, boil about 1 minute or until the skins split open.

Scramble eggs and remove. The method I use to get really light fluffy eggs is to preheat the pan at medium heat. Add 1 Tbsp. oil and swirl it around the pan. Pour in the eggs and let them bubble up. Here and there I will move them around the pan and turn them over to make sure they are evenly cooked and as soon as they are cooked evenly I give it a quick stir just to break them up and then remove them. I don't brown them and disturb them only as needed. You don't want browned eggs for any of the vegetable and egg dishes on this blog, you want them just barley cooked through. Mix ketchup, vinegar and sugar. Heat a little oil and add garlic and ginger and fry a few seconds or until fragrant. Add in ketchup mixture and stir until it forms a smooth sauce. Add tomatoes and a sprinkle of salt over the tomatoes and stir fry a minute. When the tomatoes start to release some juice add soy sauce, and water. Add eggs back in and stir well then let cook until the tomatoes are to your liking (you may like chunky big pieces of tomato or you may like it more cooked down, it is up to your own tastes.

Add in the green onion  then taste and season to your own taste adding sugar and/or salt. If the sauce needs a little thickening up just add a pinch of cornstarch to 1Tbsp. water, stir well then pour into the center of the dish while stirring. Add sesame oil and remove from heat.