Tomato Beef Stir Fry for Dinner
Continuing on my lower carb eating goals, I have been trying out some easy stir-fry recipes such as this tomato beef stir fry. I am a big fan of easy dinner recipes, and the stir-fry cooking method allows for quick one pan cooking. I love this stir-fry recipe because it is so simple and quick, but also authentic. Because of the practice of cooking meat and veggies on very high heat, stir-fries often carry a rich smokiness that comes from a hot wok (referred to as “wok hei” or “”breath of wok”” in Cantonese). This is analogous to the smoky quality of American barbecue, as it differentiates truly great stir-fry from mediocre stir fry.
What is authentic stir fry?
Traditional stir-fry recipes in Chinese cuisine require copious amounts of oil, a practice that I try to modify in my own home cooking. I remember feeling appalled when I saw my parents cook a stir-fried vegetable dish at home. You would never think that almost half a cup of oil went into the healthy-looking vegetable dish served on our dinner table. Of course, I appreciate that the oil provides a certain level of flavor and texture in Chinese cuisine, so I do not believe in stir frying completely without oil. But I have found my own ways of achieving a similar flavor profile while saving on calories and fat. In a way, this is a low-fat stir-fry recipe.
For other delicious stir fry recipes, check out my soy sauce steak and basil beef stir fry.
How to stir fry in a wok or large pan
Your basic stir-fry recipe is comprised of the following:
- Oil (lots of it)
- Aromatics (garlic, ginger, scallion, chile)
- Thinly sliced vegetables
- Thinly sliced meat
- Flavoring sauce (salt, soy sauce, oyster sauce, fish sauce, shrimp paste, black bean sauce, etc…)
Once you have this formula down, you can be creative and make new combinations of your own stir-fry recipes.
In stir-fries, it is absolutely essential that you first start by frying your aromatics in hot oil. This perfumes and flavors your oil so that the veggies and meat that are eventually cooked in it will also take on the flavor profile of the aromatics. But be careful not to burn your aromatics, especially garlic.
Once your garlic turns somewhat golden brown, dump all your vegetables in and stir vigorously. This will release much-needed liquid to prevent your garlic from burning.
Another trick is to splash a bit of water into your wok/pan and then cover with a lid to create some steam for more rapid cooking. My family would gasp in outrage at this suggestion because it is not an “authentic”stir-fry cooking method. However, the other option would be to dump 1/4 -1/2 a cup of frying oil into your wok/pan at the beginning. You do you, boo!
Stir-fried vegetables should always retain some level of crunch after cooking. When in doubt, slightly undercook your veggies. That way, the residual heat will do the rest of the softening of the veggies. For people who follow a meal prep life, undercooking the veggies is a good strategy to give your veggies the perfect texture after re-heating.
How to use sesame oil
This is actually a dish that benefits from such a splash of sesame oil. So, drizzle away! But not too much. Too much of sesame oil will make your dish taste like dirt. Yuck.
Also, I know I often rant about how adding sesame oil to a dish does not necessarily make it an authentic Asian dish. I get upset when I think about some famous chefs and their take on Asian food because it always involves sesame oil. And that is just not the case.
Clearly, some dishes greatly benefit from the rich earthiness of sesame oil, but there are also times that it does not belong.
Other appropriate uses for sesame oil
- dipping sauce for dumplings
- tiny drizzle on top of chicken or pork rice congee
- in dumpling filling
- seasoning vegetables in most Korean dishes
Tomato Beef Stir Fry
Ingredients
- 1 lb Flank steak cut into thin strips
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp corn starch
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger minced
- 1 tbsp oil
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 bunch green onions cut into 2-inch pieces
- 2 tomatoes cut into 1-inch wedges
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 drizzle sesame oil optional
Instructions
- Slice beef and marinate in soy sauce, corn starch, and pepper. Set aside and marinate for 10 minutes.
- Heat oil on a wok or large pan on high. When oil becomes shimmery, add in ginger and saute 1 minute. Then add in marinted beef on high heat, moving beef around occasionally to evenly cook ~3-5 minutes. Set beef aside.
- Add additional oil. When oil is shimmery, add in garlic and allow to become light brown. Then add in tomatoes and garlic chives. Allow tomatoes and garlic chives to slightly soften, after about 3 minutes of cooking.
- Add cooked beef into the tomato and garlic chives to stir fry together. Add in oyster sauce, sugar, and a small drizzle of sesame oil.
- Taste for seasoning and add soy sauce, oyster sauce, and sugar to taste.
