Chinese Tomato Egg Noodles
This Chinese tomato egg noodles (番茄鸡蛋面) is a meatless Chinese one-dish meal. The tomato broth is full of umami goodness and made from scratch from cooking down the tomatoes in the pot.
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The chunks of scrambled egg you see in this recipe are something I learned to cook from my mum. Pictured above was my mum in action taken for another recipe a few years back. You can check out the step-by-step photos for making this type of moist, chunky egg here. I know a lot of people do egg drop for their tomato noodle soup, but I personally prefer this kind of egg for my tomato noodles, since I grew up eating them this way.
Some of the main ingredients for this recipe (not actual amount) include spring onion (the white part), onion, tomato & tomato paste, Chinese sharp/round spinach (optional; I had leftovers in the fridge from making spinach egg drop soup) and egg. Did you see how red the tomato is? I found some beautiful, slightly over-ripened local tomatoes from the supermarket and knew they are perfect both in terms of flavour and aesthetics to make this dish. The success of this dish really depends on using ripe & sweet tomatoes.
A side note about the tomato paste: Since it’s always a challenge to finish a can of tomato paste, I am now using a tube of tomato paste from iherb. (disclosure: affiliate link). I use only 1 tablespoon each time, leaving the rest of the tube in the fridge where it can be kept for a long time.
I remembered a very nice tomato noodles in Hong Kong I ate many years ago, so I used instant noodles on the day I made this recipe. You can use any favourite noodles such as mee sua, yang chun noodles, macaroni and even angel hair.
Tomato Egg Noodles Recipe
If you are in a hurry, you can use low-sodium chicken or vegetable stock as a short-cut in place of the water and seasonings in this recipe.
For best results, use ripened sweet tomatoes to bring out the naturally rich umami flavour from the tomatoes.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 tsp + 1 tbsp cooking oil divided
- 2 small eggs whisked
- 3 stalks spring onion use only the bottom white part; cut to 2.5 cm lengths
- 1/4 yellow onion sliced thinly
- 3 ripe tomatoes (225g) cut to 6-8 wedges
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 750 ml water top up with more water whenever needed
- a handful sharp/round spinach leaves optional
- sea salt to taste
- 2 servings noodles such as instant noodles, mee sua or glass noodles
- 1 tsp sesame oil per bowl of noodles
- chopped spring onions to garnish
(A) Soup Seasonings
- 1 tsp sugar to taste
- 1 tbsp mushroom seasoning powder if not using this ingredient, use more soy sauce and/or salt to taste
- 1 tsp light soy sauce to taste
- 3 dashes white pepper powder to taste
Directions:
- Cook noodles. In a separate pot, bring some water to boil and cook noodles. Drain and rinse under cold water. Portion noodles to 2 serving bowls, coating them with sesame oil. This will give the noodles a nice aroma and prevent them from drying out.
- Cook the egg. Grease wok with 1/2 tsp oil. Pour the egg mixture to cover the wok. When the egg is semi-cooked, scramble them using a spatula and cook them into large chunks. Take care not to over cook the egg; they should still be moist after cooking. Set aside cooked egg on a plate and clean out the pan with kitchen towel.
- Fry aromatics and tomato. Heat another 1 tbsp oil to the cleaned pan. Add spring onion (white portion) and onion. Stir-fry briefly until onion is translucent. Then add tomatoes and tomato paste, stirring occasionally on medium low heat. Cook tomatoes until they are blistered and start to exude juices, about 5 minutes.
- Make tomato broth. Add water and soup seasonings at (A). Bring to a simmer for 5 minutes. Top up with more water if needed. Add spinach and cooked egg to the soup pot. Cook for another 30 seconds. Season the soup to taste with salt and white pepper.
- To serve, ladle tomato, egg and soup to each bowl of noodles. Garnish with spring onions.