Chinese Toon with Fried Eggs
香椿炒蛋
The season for Chinese Toon (or Xiangchun as it’s known in China) is short. The first shoots arrive in early April, and by May, they’re too big and no longer tender. Xiangchun is the only tree in Northern Asian with edible leaves, and thus, the arrival of the shoots in Beijing is one to be celebrated, marking the end of cold weather, as the city bursts into life.
Some describe Xiangchun leaves as tasting like beef and onion, but to me, it’s bitter like dandelion greens with an underlying earthiness similar to beetroots. It’s a big flavour that overpowers everything, so best paired with neutral ingredients like tofu or eggs.
This is a classic Beijing recipe: Xiangchun with big chunks of scrambled egg.
Serves 2
Ingredients
50g of tender (young) Chinese toon leaves
4 eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
Oil - for cooking
Method
Prepare the leaves. If there are any woody stalks, remove these first. Rinse the leaves, and then add the slightly damp leaves to a pan on a medium heat. Place the lid on and let the leaves steam in the water for 30 seconds (you can add a few drops if there’s not enough) . Remove the lid, give them a stir, then put the lid on for another 30 seconds. You might need to do this in batches. The leaves will have lost their reddish colour at this point and will now be green and wilted. That is normal.
When cool enough to handle, squeeze out any excess water, then finely chop the leaves.
Crack the eggs into a bowl, add the salt and sesame oil and whisk.
Add the leaves and stir.
Heat a drizzle of oil in a frying pan on a medium heat, then pour in the egg mix. Let it cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute without moving. You want the egg to colour a bit. Then as the egg starts to solidify, you can start to flip parts of the egg with a spatula - this is somewhere between an omelette and scrambled eggs. You want large chunks of fully-cooked egg.
When all the egg is cooked, serve.
