Stir-Fried Ginger Tomato Beef | Wok Wednesdays

I almost missed making this Stir-Fried Ginger Tomato Beef from Wok Wednesdays. The post was supposed to be up on December 3rd, which snuck up on me way too fast..... something about the recipe schedule not being posted until after the weekend.... that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Then I saw my friend Cathy's post about how much she loved this dish. I definitely needed to give this dish a try.

This recipe, from Grace Young's book, Stir Frying to the Sky's Edge, is the author's take on a dish her mother used to prepare for Grace and her brother to get them to eat more rice. The sauce is delicious poured over the rice. I served it in a bowl to drench the rice in the delicious liquid. It's kind of like a Chinese gumbo (forgive me Grace!).

The recipe calls for whole canned tomatoes in juice, a serendipitous discovery after Grace Young could not find decent tomatoes in the market to poach and peel. The addition of the juice and the consistency of the canned tomatoes made the dish even more flavorful.

This stir-fry was very easy to make. You cut flank steak into small strips and mix it with minced ginger, soy sauce, rice wine, cornstarch, sugar, salt, pepper, and sesame oil. Your mise en place should also include sliced green onions, the tomatoes, 1/2 teaspoon of sugar, and a small bowl containing dark soy, rice wine, and sesame oil.

Mise en place? Do not attempt stir fry without it. Unless you want your kitchen to look like a hurricane hit it. Cray cray!!

Have your table set and your rice ready, because the total cooking time is about six minutes. Dinner for two!

I was a little nervous about boiling tomatoes and tomato juice in my seasoned wok, so I did stop to rinse my wok before sitting down for dinner.... oh, and I snuck in a couple of photos too =)

I think this might be my new favorite from the cookbook.  Get the book, join us on Wok Wednesdays. You won't regret it.

The food editors at the San Francisco Chronicle picked this recipe as one of their favorites from the book. The recipe can be found here.