Tomato eggs has been a common dish found in Taiwanese cuisine. Just like beef noodles or more so a western meatballs, every family has its own version of such comforting dish. This time, instead of a simple tomato eggs dish, I've added some ground pork and made the whole thing into a nostalgic topping served with steamed quinoa rice. Double that heart-warming touch!
Tomato eggs and ground pork rice 番茄蛋蓋飯 -
Ingredients (for 2 to 3 portions)?
- 2 to 3 portions steamed quinoa rice
- 4 medium ripe tomatoes
- 90 grams ground pork
- 4 eggs
- 6 garlic cloves
- 1 stalk scallion
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon drinkable water
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
How?
Cook the rice first, mix in some quinoa for a nutritious boost. In that case, soak the quinoa with water for about 10 minutes, mix with white rice, then cook. Once done, fluff the grains and keep at warm for later use.
Remove the tomato stems and cut into smaller chunks. Peel and finely chop the garlic cloves. Destem the scallion, cut into shorter sections for the white part, then finely chop the green part.
Take a medium bowl, beat the eggs together with 1 tablespoon of drinkable water. This will help in reaching a softer texture scrambled eggs later on.
Prepare a wok, drizzle in 2 tablespoons of olive oil and turn to medium high heat. Add in ground pork, scallion sections, and garlic. Give it a quick stir and cook till the pork slightly colored.
Add in 1 teaspoon of salt, 1/8 teaspoon of black pepper, and 1 tablespoon of soy sauce. Mix and cook till darkened a bit.
Add in tomatoes along with 1 teaspoon of sugar. Use more sugar if a sweeter taste is preferred. Be careful when adding the tomatoes. Tomatoes got a lot of juice, so when in contact with hot wok, oil might start popping over. Use a wok lid for your protection if needed. However, a few dodges should be fine.
Keep cooking these tomatoes till soft enough and the skins start to fall off. You can lower the heat a little and start picking out the skin while continue to cook the tomatoes at the same time. But it's not required to remove the skin, just that it'll have a smoother mouth-feel once removed.
Use medium low heat, pour in beaten eggs and give it a simple stir. Cooked till the eggs about to reach desired texture. Should be quick here, less than a minute or so.
Scoop some rice to the serving dish and top with the tomato egg and group pork topping. Garnish with chopped scallion.
Don't omit the sugar, it's like an old school way, more so a Taiwanese way to make tomato eggs. In fact, I only used 1 teaspoon of sugar, that's not much compared to the majority. My mom just eyeball it and I'm sure she'll use at least twice the amount of sugar compared to mine.
Other Asian rice recipes:
Trying to steer away from the regular cold salad dishes, so decided to roast some veggies and a seared steak to go along. Surprisingly, the steak wasn't the favorite ingredient here, not that I made it almost well-done. It's simply because that yellow yam was so sweet, with texture resembles a well-boiled potato, but filled with honey-scented sweet flavor. So glad that I didn't go for the potatoes but picked up some yellow yams instead. Truly a delight.
Warm salad with yellow yam and seared steak -
Ingredients?
- 400 grams steak
- 1/2 onion
- 3 small/medium yellow yam
- 1 medium box mixed salad greens (must have arugula in it)
- 1 small can corn kernels
- 1 red bell pepper
- 100 grams small mozzarella balls or other type of milky cheese
- 2 garlic cloves
- Some olive oil
- Some salt
- Some black pepper
Dressing:
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
- 2 teaspoons whole grain mustard
- Small pinch salt
- Small pinch black pepper
How?
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit/204.5 degrees Celsius. Remove the steak from the fridge and let it rest in room temperature for about 10 minutes.
Peel and cut the yellow yam into smaller chunks. Peel and cut the onion into smaller chunks. Destem and remove the seeds from red bell pepper, then cut the bell pepper into smaller chunks. Peel and chop the garlic cloves. Finely chop the oregano. Drain out the liquid from canned corn kernels.
Season some salt and black pepper on both sides of the steak. I actually used one piece of New York steak plus one piece of sirloin, just because these two were on sale since they're about to pass the best before date. That's partly the reason why I seared the steak till almost well-done. Again, the key ingredient here turned out to be the yellow yam, so steak was more so seeking for a meaty bite.
Drizzle some olive oil to a pan and turn to medium high heat. Wait till the surface warms up, transfer the steak over and sear till desired doneness. Once ready, remove from heat and let it rest for 5 to 10 minutes, then slice and set aside.
Take a baking sheet, add in red bell pepper, yellow yam, onion, and garlic. Drizzle some olive oil over, season with about 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper. Give them a few tosses.
Into the oven and roast for about 20 minutes. Remove from heat, wait till these ingredients cool down a little then transfer them to a big mixing bowl.
Add in drained corn kernels to that bowl also, along with mixed salad greens and selected cheese. I tore some cheese made with goat milk over instead of using small mozzarella cheese balls, it got a strong goat milk scent that might not be favored by all. That's why I put mozzarella first in the recipe, shouldn't go wrong with such popular milky cheese.
Mix all the ingredients under the "dressing" section. Whisk or shake till fully combined.
Pour that dressing to the mixing bowl. Mix well.
Plate salad and top with sliced steak. Grind some more coarse black pepper over.
Make sure to include arugula in the salad. Its distinct peppery note works really well with heavier texture roasted veggies. Arugula also compliments the sweetness from the yellow yam. Remember, must have arugula.
How about Japanese style cold salad next time?
