How to Make Chinese Beef and Tomatoes

Cindy: Hi and welcome to A Taste from the Melting Pot. I’m your host, Cindy Szabo. For many years, China has played an intrical part in American history, from building the western half of the transcontinental railroad to over 41,000 Chinese restaurants across the United States. Today, we’ve traveled to Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey where we’ll meet Lina Frank. And she’s going to introduce us to her take on a few popular Chinese dishes, but before we learn how to use our chopsticks, let’s take a look at life in China today.

Male: With a population just over 1.3 billion people, China is a country that is making an impact. One out of every five people in the world lives in China continuing its vibrant, diverse and rich cultural heritage. Although one of the oldest civilizations in the world, China has been accelerating into the new millennium. China currently has the second largest economy in the world.

The art of Chinese cuisine is believed to have originated with ancient imperial banquets serving 100 dishes for each meal. Overtime, these recipes found their way into the broader culture and helped shape the eight great traditions of regional cuisine.

Chances are, you may have tasted Com Paw Chicken or Dim Sum but the full culinary experience includes delicacies like shark fins, frogs, and even the occasional lizard. Regardless of your taste, most everything is eaten with chopsticks.

Chinese culture is also famous for its rich heritage of music, dance, art and craftsmanship. It is the birthplace of Kung Fu Martial Arts, Tai Chi and Confucianism as well as the extremely complex medical traditions of herbal medicine and acupuncture. Whether or not you’ve traveled to China, chances are its cultural impact has found a way into your very own neighborhood.

Cindy: I can’t wait to meet Lina and her family. Asian cuisine has always been one of my personal favorites so I can’t wait to taste the home cooked version.

Hi Lina! I’m Cindy how are you?

Lina: Welcome, welcome.

Cindy: It’s nice to meet you. This is for you.

Lina: Thank you.

Cindy: This is some rosemary.

Lina: Thank you, come on in. Sure. Come on in.

Cindy: Thank you.

In China, cooking is an art form. Colors, aromas, tastes, and even utensils reflect cultural values of balance and harmony.

Well, Lina has graciously welcomed us into her kitchen and she is going to be making us some beef and tomatoes I believe?

Lina: Yes.

Cindy: Okay, great. And what goes into beef and tomatoes?

Lina: The beef, tomatoes and the garlic and ginger and a little bit oil and a little bit of oyster sauce.

Cindy: Oyster sauce?

Lina: Yes.

Cindy: Okay.

Lina: And the sugar and then the salt.

Cindy: And this is brown sugar obviously.

Lina: I use brown sugar.

Cindy: Is this a popular dish in China?

Lina: Well, yeah pretty popular and the kids love it and to mix with all over the rice.

Cindy: Oh, that’s wonderful. So it’s a great healthy dish as well.

Lina: Yes.

Cindy: So, it’s great for the kids who want to eat it.

Lina: Yes. They have a tomato for the Vitamin C and the beef with the nutrition’s.

Cindy: Very nice. Okay, so why don’t you show us how this works as far as putting it all together.

Lina: Okay, sure. Let’s boil that coconut oil. Get this like maybe one, two teaspoon oil.

Cindy: Is this a very easy dish to make?

Lina: This is very easy like five minutes.

Cindy: So that’s nice.

Lina: Yeah.

Cindy: So, in case anybody comes over unexpectedly, you can quick put these together and have a nice mingle.

Lina: Yes, that’s why I have tomatoes and beef. And then we can just put the garlic.

Cindy: And it looks like those are big cloves of garlic so that’s nice. So, what other kind of dishes are popular in China as far as beef dishes?

Lina: They have like Kung Pao Chicken and they have like—

Cindy: Kung Pao Chicken Chicken?

Lina: Kung Pao Chicken Paw Chicken and they have vegetable ramen.

Cindy: Very nice.

Lina: And then I’ll put a little ginger. Okay, tomatoes.

Cindy: Now, the beef steak you have right here, what kind of beef is this?

Lina: I usually get a flank steak.

Cindy: A flank steak?

Lina: Yeah, because they are softer, just more tender.

Cindy: What other kind of spices are usually found in Chinese dishes?

Lina: Like they have Hoisin sauce, oyster sauce.

Cindy: Okay.

Lina: And the soy sauce.

Cindy: When you have things like sweet and sour chicken things like that, what is the sauce in that?

Lina: The sweet and sour?

Cindy: Yeah.

Lina: A little sugar then soy sauce.

Cindy: Soy sauce and sugar? Okay.

Lina: Okay, we’re just going to fry the tomatoes and then with the salt and we’re going to can just, with the beef, I’ve marinade it with the soy sauce.

Cindy: Okay.

Lina: And a little cornstarch.

Cindy: And cornstarch? And does that give it a little bit of extra texture??

Lina: Yeah, that means the beef and that—you let it a little softer.

Cindy: So, it’s not so chewy and you know?

Lina: No, it will be more chewy.

Lina: Okay. Okay, I'm just going to add the beef inside.

Cindy: Sure. Just put that right in there and mix it up. Awesome!

Lina: Add a little sugar.

Cindy: Okay.

Lina: It’s about done.

Cindy: And this is the, oyster sauce?

Lina: Yes, its oyster sauce and the I'm just going to put two teaspoon in there.

Cindy: Sure. Where can you get oyster sauce?

Lina: Usually the Asian market has it.

Cindy: Asian markets? Can you also find it in other grocery store?

Lina: I am not quite sure but then we usually get it from Asian markets like—

Cindy: Okay.

Lina: The H-marts.

Cindy: Okay.

Lina: And then the oyster sauce.

Cindy: Very nice.

Lina: Okay.

Cindy: This looks amazing already. It’s not even out of the pan and it looks absolutely delicious.

Lina: And that’s all.

Cindy: And that’s it?

Lina: Yeah.

Cindy: Wow. That took so little time and it looks amazing.

And there we have it. We have our beef and tomatoes, ready to eat and you could see the steam is coming right off of the food. It looks absolutely wonderful.

Well, we will be right back but don’t go too far because Lina is going to be bringing us into her dining room and she’s going to show us some beautiful pieces of Chinese culture. We’ll be right back.