The iconic Chinese tomato and scrambled eggs stir fry but veganized! I used bean curd sticks, a type of tofu skin to replace eggs and they worked perfectly well with the vibrant, sweet and sour tomato sauce. Fair warning, this dish is highly addictive with rice!
Is this your childhood too? For a lot of us, this was the very first dish we ever learned how to make! It's pretty much our introductory lesson into the kitchen, a "rite of passage" almost. It's a classic dish for a reason - super easy to make, so cozy and comforting, incredibly flavorful and pairs amazingly with rice.
Since I went vegan I no longer eat eggs - did you know 7 BILLION male baby chicks are ground up alive every year as soon as they hatch because they're deemed "useless" by the egg industry? :( But that doesn't mean I have to give up my childhood fave. So I recreated this dish with Fu Zhu, or bean curd sticks, it's a type of tofu skin, similar to Yuba, which is a Japanese version of tofu skin.
Instead of just stir-frying the tofu skin with tomatoes like I've seen in most recipes, I seasoned them with turmeric, which makes them more golden and closer to actual scrambled eggs in color, and Kala Namak, aka black salt, which gives the tofu skin such a strong eggy flavor! This simple step definitely takes this vegan recreation to the next level.
I highly recommend eating this dish over some freshly made, steamy and fluffy white rice, the sweet and sour tomato sauce, tender and soft tofu skin go with the rice so well. If you try this dish let me know what you think! Find me on Instagram and Tiktok ^^
INGREDIENTS:
2 ripe tomatoes
2 scallion
3 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon ketchup
1/4 cup water
cooking oil
For the "egg" part-
8 oz dry bean curd stick or tofu skin
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon white vinegar
Warm water
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon kala namak, aka black salt
Cooking oil
TO MAKE:
- Cut the bean curd sticks into 2 inch long pieces and into a container or bowl, add enough WARM water to cover them completely, do NOT use cold water - it will take too long or hot water - it'll make the bean curd stick break easily;
- Add the salt and vinegar to the water, cover with lid, and let them soak for at least 30 minutes. The time you'll need to rehydrate your bean curd sticks can vary a lot depending on the brand, so give it more time if needed;
- Chop the tomatoes into quarters, mince the garlic, and chop the scallion whites and greens separately;
- Once the bean curd sticks have been rehydrated, they should be soft, flexible, easy to tear apart, NO hard center;
- In a nonstick pan, heat a few drizzles of oil, pan fry the bean curd sticks till they're golden on both sides;
- Season with turmeric and kala namak, stir to coat evenly, set aside;
- Clean the pan and fry off the scallion WHITE parts and garlic till aromatic, about 1 - 2 minutes;
- Add in the tomatoes, cook till they release the juice, for about 3 minutes;
- Season with the soy sauce and ketchup, then add back in the bean curd sticks, stir to combine;
- Add in the water, cover with lid, let it simmer for 5 minutes;
- Sprinkle on the scallion greens and serve over rice, enjoy!
