Trứng Chiên Hành - Onion and Tomatoes Omelet

There are variations of this omelet in many cultures around the world, egg foo young is a quick example, so I'm not going to claim that this dish is exclusive to Vietnam. That said, this is what my mum fed me since I was little, so this is a Vietnamese version of it. Notice I said a version and not the version as I'm sure everyone makes it differently in Vietnam as well.

Here's my recipe for a version of this Onion and Tomatoes Omelet. This dish can be made vegetarian with vegetarian soy sauce - check the ingredients on the bottle and make sure the soy sauce is vegetarian as many Southeast Asian soy sauces are not!

Ingredients:

- Eggs, 9-10 large or 10+ smaller eggs. I used 12 when I made the omelets pictured and it yielded 4 generous dinner portions.

- Fresh tomatoes, 3 large or 4-5 smaller tomatoes, slice into whole or half medallions.

- Onion, 1 large or 2 smaller onions, sliced, though not too thickly.

- Scallions, chopped, as much or as little as you like. You can substitute regular green scallions with Chinese chives (hẹ) if you want a stronger onion/garlic taste, or leeks (negi) for a milder taste. Even though the omelets pictured were made with leeks (because regular scallions are way more expensive here!), I think I like regular scallions best because it's just right, not too strong but not too mild either.

Seasonings:

- Fish sauce, 3-4 Tablespoons. You can substitute vegetarian soy sauce here. I prefer my omelets with fish sauce but I haven't found any fish sauce here yet to I substituted with a combination of chicken broth powder, dashi powder, and shiro dashi.

- Black pepper, generous sprinkles.

Steps:

- Heat skillet with oil, then stir fry a handful of sliced onions.

- Mean while, beat the eggs with fish/soy sauce, black pepper. If you use chopped scallions, mix the scallions right into the eggs.

- When onions are soften, if you are using Chinese chives or leeks, add them here. Stir fry for a minute.

- Scatter the onions evenly across the skillet, then place several medallions of tomatoes on top. Let cook for a minute or 2.

- Ladle the beaten egg mix over, just enough to hold everything in place. Don't submerge the ingredients in the egg mix or your omelets will be too thick and very egg-y.

- Cover and let cook until omelet puffs up, then flip to cook on other side for a couple of minutes.

- Serve by itself or dipped in soy sauce. Yes, even though I prefer my omelets with fish sauce, I still dip it in soy sauce :P