Tomato Beef

This recipe comes from Chinese Cooking for Dummies by Chef Martin Yan. Hah! Hah! Hah! Why do I need a dummies series for Chinese cooking? Well, that's because the food that I grew up with is Nyonya and Malay and some Indian. I only get to eat authentic Chinese food when I dine at the restaurant. As I mentioned in this post, I wanted to get in touch with my roots. I appreciate good Chinese food but sadly, I don't know how to cook most of the dishes.

One of the recipes that caught my eye was Tomato Beef. At first I thought it was a stew but upon reading I realized that it is a stir fry dish with a tomato based gravy. I have ear marked the recipe for about 3 years now but never got round to trying it. That is classic Phong Hong. Lack of motivation to try new recipes. And thanks to Little Thumbs Up, I am finally cooking this dish.

I have never stir fried beef before and the only way I cooked beef previously was by stewing or curry. So I was a bit nervous. I knew that I would have to buy a cut that is meant for stir frying. The recipe calls for tri-tip or New York steak (I have no idea what that is) and upon checking the beef section at Aeon, I settled for a rump steak.

And of course, another important ingredient is a medium sized ripe tomato. I found some big ripe tomatoes and put that into my trolley. I also got myself a green pepper. All the other ingredients for the sauce were already available at home.

I noted that there are no onions, garlic or ginger in the recipe. I thought it was rather strange and I could have added  those into the dish but I decided to trust Chef Martin Yan and follow the recipe as is. The sauce ingredients are chicken broth, tomato ketchup, hoisin sauce, brown sugar and chilli garlic sauce. 

There were two ingredients that I didn't have which is chicken broth and chilli garlic sauce. So I just used water and chilli bean paste (toban djan). This dish is very easy to cook - just stir fry the marinated beef, toss in the green peppers and tomatoes followed by the sauce.

To my relief, the beef was tender and I loved the flavor of the sauce. However, in my future attempt I will include ginger, garlic and onions. Not that there is anything wrong with the original recipe, but I feel that the addition of ginger, garlic and onions will enhance the flavors of this dish. I give this dish my thumbs up and I will definitely cook it again.

Tomato Beef
Recipe Source : Chinese Cooking for Dummies by Chef Martin Yan (page 191)
(My adaptations are in red)

Ingredients :
- 3/4 lbs (about 340g) beef (tri-tip or New York steak), cut into 1/2 inch cubes (I used 420g rump steak and thinly sliced)
- 2 tablespoons oyster-flavored sauce
- 2 tablespoons Chinese rice wine
- 1/3 cup chicken broth (I used water)
- 3 tablespoons ketchup(I used 4 tablespoons)
- 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
- 1 tablespoon packed brown sugar (I used 1 teaspoon)
- 1 teaspoon chilli garlic sauce (I used chilli bean paste)
- 1.5 tablespoons cooking oil
- 1 cup diced green bell pepper (1 inch pieces)
- 1 medium ripe tomato, cut into 8 wedges and then halved

Method :
1. To make the marinade, combine the oyster-flavoured sauce and rice wine in a bowl.
2. Add beef and stir to coat. Let stand for 10 minutes.
3. To make the sauce, combine chicken broth, ketchup, hoisin sauce, brown sugar and chilli garlic sauce in a bowl.
4. Place a wok over high heat until hot.
5. Add oil, swirling to coat the sides.
6. Add the beef and stir fry until no longer pink, about 1.5 to 2 minutes.
7. Add the bell pepper and tomato; stir fry for 1 minute.
8. Add the sauce and bring to a boil.
9. When sauce is slightly thick, dish out and serve immediately.

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs Up organised by Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY and Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids.