Huevos Pericos (Colombian Scrambled Eggs with Tomato and Onion)

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Onion and tomato cooked down first, then the beaten eggs stirred into them. This is how eggs are eaten at breakfast in Colombia rather than plain, and the order matters more than anything else. Thirteen minutes, three servings.

Prep Time5

Cook Time8

Total Time13

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: Colombian

Keyword: parakeet eggs, scrambled eggs

Servings:

Calories: 235kcal

Author: Angela Giraldo

Ingredients

6 eggs
1 onion finely chopped
2 ripe tomatoes chopped or grated
3 slices ham optional, diced
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 teaspoon oil

Instructions

Heat the oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the finely chopped onion and the tomato, chopped or grated, and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring now and then, until the tomato has broken down and the onion is soft.
If you are using ham, dice it and add it now.
Meanwhile, beat the eggs in a bowl with salt and pepper.
Pour the eggs into the pan, stir everything together and cook over medium heat until they set to the consistency you like. Take them off the heat while they still look slightly underdone, because they carry on cooking in the pan.
Serve straight away.
Eat them with an arepa or bread and hot chocolate, which is what goes with them at a Colombian breakfast.

Notes

The whole difference between huevos pericos and plain scrambled eggs is the order. The onion and tomato go in first and cook down until the tomato has lost its shape, and only then do the eggs go in. Put them in together and you get watery eggs with raw tomato in them. Take the pan off the heat a little before the eggs look done: there is enough heat left in the pan and the eggs to finish them, and pericos left too long go dry. The tomato can be chopped or grated. Grated melts into the onion faster and leaves no skin behind.

Nutrition