Hi folks! Sorry for the lag in entries this week, it’s been pretty hectic! I thought things would slow down at work by now but it’s still busy. 🙁 There were a few requests for the tomato soup I shared in my other post so I decided to share out the recipe today. Not sure how authentic or common this dish is, it’s just something I grew up eating. Call me crazy but in this preparation, although it’s meatless – I feel like the soup has a real savory flavor to it…I just love it. I’ll share the same pictures to show you what it looks like.

Finished product on a bed of rice with a cameo from my teri tofu burger

Brown Sugar Blocks

Cantonese Tomato Soup

6 medium sized tomatoes, sliced (it can half moon slices, they will cook down – picture of them above was prepared for the soup)
1.5 brown sugar blocks
1 – 2 eggs, depending on your taste
3 – 4 cups of water, depending on your desired soup watery versus thick level

Pinch of salt
1.5 T of cooking oil

In a soup pot, heat up the oil over medium high heat. Throw in the brown sugar blocks and melt them down to an almost caramel sauce (this step can be dangerous as the sugar reacts with the oil – be careful!). Generally, the pan goes so nuts that I just let it pop for about 30 seconds before I just dump in all the tomatoes. Stir the mixture, cover and let it come to a boil. Add your desired amount of water, the water really depends on you. The tomatoes will definitely let out some liquid so I usually put in about 3 cups of water.

Let the mixture come to a boil and simmer it on medium for about 10-15 minutes (there’s really no overcooking this dish guys). Crack your eggs in right at the end and stir, make sure you break the yolk (we’re looking for the egg drop soup look). Right before you take it off the heat, taste the soup and add seasoning to your liking (i.e. more sugar if you like it sweeter). This sounds weird but I like to also add a pinch of salt to balance the sweetness but generally I keep this soup more sweet than salty.  Serve it over rice and enjoy!

Notes:
– I definitely like to have it over rice but with side dishes like any traditional Chinese meal.
– If you’re not a big fan of the tomato peel, feel free to slash a shallow X on all the tomatoes and throw them into boiling water for a few seconds, drain and ice them to help speed up the peeling process before slicing and putting them into this dish. The tomatoes definitely cook down in the soup and the skin kind of curls up and stays in the soup. I don’t mind either eating them or just taking them out. That’s how it was growing up. 🙂