How to cook Chinese tomato with chicken
April 8, 2010 8:03 AM Subscribe
Help me re-create a dish from a faraway restaurant: Chinese chicken with tomato.
Twelve years ago a Chinese colleague of mine introduced the office to a basement restaurant he liked in lower Manhattan called Ho Yip. "Tomato with chicken" and "tomato with beef" were occasionally offered among the dozens of daily specials posted on copy paper below the regular menu board. I was still ordering this entree as recently as four or five years ago from the restaurant's midtown location and I see that it is now an official menu item but since I'm no longer in the area I can't say for sure whether the recipe is the same.
At face value the dish is as simple as can be: thin pieces of chicken (or beef) perhaps an inch or two square, [presumably] stir-fried in a golden sauce, tossed with wedges of warm but nearly raw fresh tomato, served over white or brown rice. I suspect that egg was a component of the sauce, or was tossed in somewhere during the cooking process.
I have tried searching for similar recipes, without success. I have tried synthesizing an equivalent meal from various search results, without success. I miss this dish and want to learn to make it at home. Can anyone assist me?
Twelve years ago a Chinese colleague of mine introduced the office to a basement restaurant he liked in lower Manhattan called Ho Yip. "Tomato with chicken" and "tomato with beef" were occasionally offered among the dozens of daily specials posted on copy paper below the regular menu board. I was still ordering this entree as recently as four or five years ago from the restaurant's midtown location and I see that it is now an official menu item but since I'm no longer in the area I can't say for sure whether the recipe is the same.
At face value the dish is as simple as can be: thin pieces of chicken (or beef) perhaps an inch or two square, [presumably] stir-fried in a golden sauce, tossed with wedges of warm but nearly raw fresh tomato, served over white or brown rice. I suspect that egg was a component of the sauce, or was tossed in somewhere during the cooking process.
I have tried searching for similar recipes, without success. I have tried synthesizing an equivalent meal from various search results, without success. I miss this dish and want to learn to make it at home. Can anyone assist me?
Oh, and here's one with beef.
The common thread is definitely the oyster sauce though.
posted by cabingirl at 10:51 AM on April 8, 2010
The common thread is definitely the oyster sauce though.
posted by cabingirl at 10:51 AM on April 8, 2010
Response by poster: The one I've had lacks the greens and the sauce is a little stickier (and, I think, more yellow) but that first one looks like a step in the right direction, and looks tasty. I also like the looks of this other beef with tomato recipe found at your first link. Your second link includes cornstarch and ginger in the sauce which would probably get it closer to the consistency I remember. I don't recall ginger, but maybe with the oyster sauce ...
posted by Songdog at 12:59 PM on April 8, 2010
posted by Songdog at 12:59 PM on April 8, 2010
Best answer: If you're thinking of what I'm thinking of (this), there are apparently many variations.
Combining the about.com link from cabingirl with a few similar recipes, I think you might be able to come up with something you're satisfied with after a bit of experimentation.
It appears that the beef version of the dish may be called 滑蛋番茄牛肉饭 in Chinese. This site has some pictures of the cooking process, but unfortunately the captions are embedded in the images and thus don't translate automatically.
Good luck! Be sure to post your recipe when you've settled on one.
On the other hand, if you were in fact thinking of something different... you should probably try this anyways, because it looks delicious.
posted by caaaaaam at 2:56 PM on April 8, 2010 [1 favorite]
Combining the about.com link from cabingirl with a few similar recipes, I think you might be able to come up with something you're satisfied with after a bit of experimentation.
It appears that the beef version of the dish may be called 滑蛋番茄牛肉饭 in Chinese. This site has some pictures of the cooking process, but unfortunately the captions are embedded in the images and thus don't translate automatically.
Good luck! Be sure to post your recipe when you've settled on one.
On the other hand, if you were in fact thinking of something different... you should probably try this anyways, because it looks delicious.
posted by caaaaaam at 2:56 PM on April 8, 2010 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: I guess I won't know for sure until I cook it, but yes, that looks right! There's more egg in it than at Ho Yip, but that's easy to adjust. I'm sure I can get the captions translated from the last link too but what's there is already pretty clear. Best answer for that picture, caaaaaam--man, that looks tasty--and thank you both for giant steps in the right direction! I'll report back once I try my hand at it.
posted by Songdog at 7:22 AM on April 9, 2010
posted by Songdog at 7:22 AM on April 9, 2010
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posted by cabingirl at 10:47 AM on April 8, 2010