Tomato Egg Drop (Not Soup)

Author Notes

There are endless variations of tomato and egg. The root of that versatility is in the dish’s simplicity; tomato and eggs seem to be made for each other. The combination of the two produce a dish that is robust in its savoriness, with both tomatoes and eggs heavy in the umami-tasting glutamate amino acid. That depth of flavor is then punctuated by the acidity of the tomatoes and rounded with the creaminess of the eggs, merging the two into a satisfying, balanced dish. In Chinese cooking, this simple combination of these two ingredients gives this dish incredible versatility. Throughout China, cooks adapt the dish for regional preferences of taste, texture, and serving. In warmer climates, the dish is a bright stir-fry to be eaten with rice. In colder regions, the dish can be a warm topping for pulled noodles or with dumplings.

But tomatoes weren’t always cooked with eggs in China. Tomatoes arrived in China sometime in the late 16th or early 17th centuries, which is relatively late within the context of the 3,000 year old tradition of Chinese cuisine. The introduction of tomatoes to China was met with skepticism and it would take almost another two hundred years before tomatoes found their way into Western restaurants towards the end of the Qing dynasty. After all, both Chinese names for the tomato point to its foreign source: fanqie 蕃茄—which translates literally to foreign eggplant—and xihongshi 西紅柿, or Western red persimmon.

The first written record of the tomato egg dish I found was in a magazine published in 1935 called Yuanyi 园艺, or Gardening. In discussing the nutritional values and methods for preparing tomatoes, agriculturalist 邢锡永 writes: “cook tomatoes in oil, peeled and sliced, and add to eggs cooked in oil.”

And of course, since then, the methods for cooking tomatoes and eggs have only diversified. The method I describe here departs slightly from the mainstream, with the purpose of making a saucy dish to be eaten with rice. This version can be described as a Tomato Egg Drop, where instead of scrambling the eggs separately, the eggs are dropped directly into a tomato sauce. After all, the beauty of the dish is in bringing the two ingredients; this method actually gives them time to mingle, to cook together. The technique for dropping the eggs into the tomato sauce also produces larger sheets or curds of eggs than in an egg drop soup so that the result can be spooned over rice.

The supporting cast of aromatics and seasoning here lean towards simplicity. The primary seasoning is salt and sugar with a touch of sesame oil for nuttiness. Scallions are the only aromatic ingredient; garlic and ginger are too strong. And of course, the ketchup is important both as a booster for tomato-iness and as an unavoidable touch of Hong Kong nostalgia. —Lucas Sin

Test Kitchen Notes

To easily peel a tomato, make a cross at the bottom of the tomato. Plunge into boiling water for 30 seconds. And then plunge into ice water and peel with a pairing knife. —Food52