Vietnamese-style scrambled eggs (Trung Chien) is seasoned with fish sauce (the salt of the East), a bit of sugar (an Asian secret of balancing flavor), ground black pepper and optional green onions for color. It is fried to fluffy perfection with either butter or vegetable oil.
Instead of crumbled pieces of fluffy eggs, the Vietnamese-style scrambled egg is usually fried intact with ribbons of cooked eggs. To keep it intact with a beautiful ribbon effect, a thin layer of whipped egg is spread over a hot skillet with few movements during the cooking process. The only movement needed is to push the edges of the egg into the center of the the skillet. Tilt the pan and let the liquid egg slide over into the now empty spaces. Continue doing this until no more liquid egg is left.
I like to turn off the heat and stop the cooking process when the top of the scrambled egg is still slightly wet. The residual heat usually finishes cooking the eggs without burning the bottom.
To make the scrambled eggs fluffy, it’s very important to whisk the eggs into a smooth homogeneous mixture. There should be no clumps of yolk or egg whites whatsoever before cooking. It also helps to whip the eggs with big strokes to incorporate as much air into the eggs as possible.
The American scrambled eggs utilize milk to make it fluffy, but I find that unnecessary.
Below is a very basic Vietnamese scrambled egg recipe. I kept it simple, using minimum ingredients.
You can improve this recipe by heating up garlic and sautéing that in the butter before adding the egg mixture. You can also make it into a full meal by adding more protein and vegetables, like this other fancy egg omelette recipe. In the words of my childhood superhero, “The power is yours!”
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Easy Vietnamese Scrambled Eggs with Green Onions (Trung Chien Hanh La)
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
Description
Vietnamese-style scrambled eggs, seasoned with fish sauce (the salt of the East), a touch of sugar for balance and green onions for freshness. Fluffy, flavorful, and easy to make—perfect for a lazy meal.
Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon granulated white sugar
- 1 teaspoon fish sauce
- 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 green onion (slice thinly)
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter (can substitute with vegetable oil)
Instructions
- Whisk together eggs, sugar, fish sauce, ground black pepper and green onions in a medium bowl.
- Heat the butter (or oil) on medium high in a medium non-stick skillet. Swirl butter around until it completely melted, coating all the bottom and sides.
- Cook: Add the whisked eggs to the skillet and tilt it to spread the eggs into a thin layer, reaching the sides. Let the eggs cook for 15-30 seconds. Then, use a wooden spoon or chopsticks to push the edges of the eggs toward the center, letting the runny mixture fill the empty spots. Repeat this until all the raw egg has moved to the center. When there’s no more runny egg and the top is slightly wet, turn off the heat and let the residual heat finish cooking. Serve immediately with bread or steamed white rice.
- Prep Time: 1 minute
- Cook Time: 4 minutes
- Category: side dish
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: asian, vietnamese, southeast asian
