Cooked like omelets, these fried eggs however are not served in our breakfasts. Instead, they have been one of the simple main dishes that my family usually enjoy with rice.
The chives need no sautéing before adding to the beaten egg. Simply wash, chop , dump them into the beaten egg and mix in two seasonings – fish sauce and a few droplets of wine. While being fried, the chopped chives will release an aroma to the eggs, making the omelet pungent enough to taste.
It is up to us whether to cook this with a pan or a wok. Using a pan, these omelets are easily fried to equally thickness. In a concave wok, where egg mixture recesses well in the center, sometimes I’d make them into dumpling-like shape, but smaller in size than these.
Serve this dish with or without a dipping sauce is a personal choice. I enjoyed it with some chili sauce to spice up my appetite (you may want to add some more fish sauce to taste if you are not serving this with a salty, hot sauce).
Adding starch to the mixture is optional too, I like having it there to help the omelet set better.
By the way, it is said that insects don’t like the smell of Chinese chives, so supposedly no pesticide is applied to them. Have you ever heard of the same?
- Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- ~100g Chinese chives
- 1 tsp fish sauce, or to taste
- few droplets of cooking wine
- corn starch solution (2 tsp starch + 2 tsp water), thoroughly mixed
- 4 tsp cooking oil
- ~1 tbsp chili sauce, optional
- yield 4 omelets, ~14cm each
Method
Wash Chinese chives, drain away excess water. Gather and align them lengthwise on chopping board and coarsely slice them crosswise, about half cm in length.
Beat eggs (I use a pair of chopsticks), fish sauce and wine in a bowl until they are frothy. Stir in Chinese chive and corn starch solution.
Heat about one tea spoon of oil in pan (mine is a 16 cm pan cast iron pan) over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add one fourth of the egg mixture – give it a good stir before spooning out to avoid the starch depositing to the bottom. Swirl the pan to distribute the egg mixture evenly over the surface. Regular heat to low. Wait until the omelet is puffed and 80-90% of it is set on the surface. Using a spatula, fold the omelet in half. Continue to fry it until inside is done and both sides are browned, about half to one minute; flip the omelet once or twice to brown evenly. Dish up.
Repeat with the remaining egg mixture.
Cut omelets into wedges, serve warm (you may keep the fried omelets warm in an oven heated to about 100 degree C), with chili sauce to taste.
Enjoy!
- Category: Egg . Featured . Vegetable .
- 18 comments
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i think i’ll be making your tofu and seaweed soup, this omelette possibly with some minced pork added in and boiled rice – dinner sorted!
by the way, i’m attempting the tomato and beansprout soup tonight but will add udon and some ham to it to make a more filling meal for my fiance!
@Lucy L,
I’m glad that you’re going to trying these recipes, and thanks for telling me how you’ll adapt them for your dinner. Am inspired by you in return. Agree, ground meat in fried eggs is another good dish to serve with rice. Also like your idea of adding ham to the sprout soup; hope you and your fiance will enjoy all of them together!
By the way, my intuition suggests that if you add udon to the soup, you may need less sprouts in it. Or, perhaps dish up the sprouts as an appetizer : )?!
This recipe looks so amazingly simple and elegant … Bravo !
I have tried a few of your recipes already and loved them all! I do have to adapt them though as my fiance needs meat and carbs in every meal (i like them too! hehe).
I added the whole pack of 500g bean sprouts to the soup because i didn’t want to waste them and had no other use for it. Also, I stir fried them in the beginning like with the soy beansprouts and they still retained the crunch!
On another note, I have made your mushroom, preserved veg & jalapeno dish about 3 times now as I love it so much. The last time, I pan fried a whole seabass and poured this veg mix over it and it was so so tasty! 🙂
@CJ at Food Stories,
Yes, simple indeed.
@Lucy L,
Thanks for telling me all these. No worries, I like variations too.
Let me also put you through a link where you may consider using any leftover bean sprouts next time (I like lots of sprouts in this fried noodles). By the way, do you mean pouring beaten egg with the chives over the whole seabass … how interesting!
Oh yes, such a simple but tasty dish! I love Chinese chives egg and like that Chinese chives are easy to use in omelets like that 🙂
Yummm.. definitely love omelet like this. I love the slight pungent of Chinese chives!
I mean I love your “Stir-fried King Oyster Mushrooms with Sichuan Pickled Mustard” and have made it 3 times. I poured this veg mix over the seabass!
hmmm, but you’ve given me an idea about egga nd chive over the fish – it could be interesting! hehe
your omelet is beautiful! love this with porridge.
I can’t go to the chinese grocery as often as I’d like to, so last time I didn’t forget to get some chives. I just made these fried eggs for lunch, and think I’ll make it again as soon as I can (luckily, I have leftover chives) ! I love this kind of simple, homey and yet delicious dishes, with which you can’t go wrong…
By the way, the cornstarch solution is a great tip for helping fried eggs to hold shape, I’ll keep it in mind (being a frenchie, I naturally love omelets). So, thanks for the recipe !
@Helena,
You are welcome, enjoy again, for lunch or dinner!
I used to have eggs like this on the street in Beijing outside of the big stadium, and I loved them. Sometimes they would serve with sauce and rolled up and with some sort of topping. Can’t remember all of it, but man was it good. If you have nay idea what I’m talking about please let me know what else is in this kind of dish!
@Coourtney,
Could be sweet bean paste (one served with the Peking ducks), or hoisin sauce, possibly added with some chilies and leeks … Better stop these wild guesses as I have not visited Beijing for years.
Thanks! Both sound like good guesses – I’ll have to try them and see if it sparks any memories. I haven’t been back in years either, but I sure miss the food (I’m stateside now).
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[…] There were also a couple of raised beds. In this particular raised bed, there are okras on the left, and Chinese Chives on the right. Many of you may not be as familiar with Chinese Chives, but it is a common veggies used in Chinese cooking. Here’s an easy (and popular) recipe if you are interested in trying it out: Fried Eggs with Chinese Chives. […]