Tomato, beef and scrambled egg rice
A Hong Kong café classic: tomatoes cooked until juicy, with tender beef and silky scrambled egg over rice — sweet, tangy and easy to eat when the heat dulls your appetite.
- 30 min
- Serves 2
- Stir-fry
- Easy
Why it suits you: Great Heat is the hottest time of the year, and even a balanced constitution loses its appetite and upsets its stomach with too many iced drinks. Tomatoes are sweet and sour, whetting the appetite and relieving thirst, beef nourishes the spleen, qi and blood, and eggs nourish yin — a tangy plate with enough goodness to see you through the heat.
Method
Prep 15 min · Cook 15 min- 1Marinate the beef with the soy sauce, cornflour and a splash of water for 10 minutes. Beat the eggs with a pinch of salt and cut the tomatoes into wedges.
- 2Heat oil in a wok and scramble the eggs until just over half set, then remove. Add a little more oil, stir-fry the beef until it changes colour and remove.
- 3Fry the tomatoes in the same wok until soft and juicy, then add the ketchup, sugar and 3 tbsp water and simmer for 2 minutes to make a sauce.
- 4Return the beef and eggs, toss with the spring onion and spoon over hot rice.
Chef's tips
- Choose very ripe, slightly soft tomatoes: they give plenty of juice, so you need less ketchup.
The TCM view
Tomato is sweet, sour and slightly cold, generating fluids, relieving thirst and aiding digestion. Beef is sweet and neutral, nourishing the spleen and stomach, boosting qi and blood and strengthening the sinews; eggs are sweet and neutral, nourishing yin, moistening dryness and nourishing blood. Sour and sweet together generate yin, nourishing without heaviness — ideal for reviving a balanced constitution's appetite in the heat.
