Grandma's best stir fried tomato, egg and cucumber

I hosted our book club dinner party tonight and people seemed to really enjoy my food (on the menu there were Green curry with Tofu, Indian-styled chickpea stew, Americanized stir-fired green bean and almonds as well as this dish; you probably can guess what was for dessert) . Here is a recipe written for a friend who asked for it before she left.

This is a family recipe passed along from my grandma. It’s one of my favorite and goes very well with plain rice. I love the sweet-sour taste and the combination of egg’s tenderness and cucumber’s crispness. Of course there is the sheer pretty colors to look at to start with (Chinese put color in front of scent and flavor as three elements to appraise a dish).

This is also a perfect dish for this time of the year (for northern Atmosphere anyway) as you can find all the ingredients fresh, and preferably local.

Ingredients (Serve four)

• Four tomatoes (medium-large, I used vine-ripe) cut into pieces
• Half European cucumber (no American ones please), cut into pieces
• Six eggs
• 2 Green onions cut into pieces
• Canola oil, 3 Tb spoons for scrambling eggs and 2 Tb spoons later for cooking down the tomatoes
• Sugar, 1 Tb spoon or to taste
• Salt, to taste

To cook

The key to cook this dish is to master the heat, as explained below.

1. Prepare the eggs: add a pinch salt into eggs, beat the eggs until the yolks and whites mixed well. I like to use a fork to beat it violently until the mixture has even bubble.
2. Scramble the eggs: heat pan/wok using high heat, add 3 Tb spoons of canola oil, and let it sit until you almost feel it is fuming but not quite, turn the heat down to median. Pour the eggs in (you should hear a nice sizzling sound). Stir quickly. The idea is to make the eggs as tender as possible. Sometimes in the end I even took the pan off the heat and let the rest of the heat finish the job. As long as there is no egg liquid left you’re done. The scrambled egg will go back to the pan later so it’s ok if it is a big undercooked then over cooked. Set the scrambled eggs aside.
3. Cook the green onion: now add the rest of the canola oil into the pan, median heat is good enough. Wait the oil to be heated, a good test is to dip your cooking utensil into the oil, if it sizzles a bit, then it’s time to throw in the green onion. Wait, until you smell the scent of the green onion, pour the tomatoes in. Be careful, as you basically throw water/tomato juice into hot oil. That’s why at this point you don’t want high heat.
   
4. Cook the tomatoes: after the splashing is over, turn the heat back to high. Take some time to cook the tomatoes down. There will be several different outcomes depending on how long you cook. Personally I like the point where juices are out but not completely out, and the tomatoes pieces are shapeless. If you cook shorter than that, the tomatoes are still in cubes/slices and not juicy enough; if you cook too long than water and tomato juices will become separated and you end up with diluted juice. Oh, don’t forget to add the sugar at some point.
5. Time for an orchestra: Turn down the heat to median, throw in the scrambled egg. Mix a bit. Turn off the heat, add salt. Last add the cucumber, which is more like a garnish when I do it. I prefer to keep the refreshing taste of cucumber by not cooking it much, the left heat will cook it enough anyway.