Beef and Tomatoes with Egg on Rice

This is the first of my comfort food recipe series. I just love making convenient all-in-one meals where you get your protein, veggies, and carbs on one plate. This is also a favourite in our household.

Serves 4
Cook time 25 min

400 grams of beef for stir-frying, flank steak cut into slices work best
5 medium size extra ripe beefsteak or campari tomatoes or cherry /plum tomatoes
5 medium size eggs
steamed white or brown rice
1 small red onion (optional)
3/4 cup ketchup
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 1/4 cup water

To marinate the beef:
1/4 tsp sugar
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tbsp mirin
3 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tbsp corn starch

Note: this is one of the standard beef marinate recipe for Chinese beef stir fry dishes. Salt should never be used to marinate beef or pork as it makes the meat tough. If using previously frozen beef, defrost for 1 hour and slice, it is much easier to slice the beef before it's completely defrosted.

Mix all of the above ingredients together in a bowl, add to the sliced beef. Sprinkle the corn starch over the beef, mix and let it sit in fridge, ideally for 30-50 min to both tenderize and marinate the meat.

Beef and tomatoes with egg

Mix the eggs in a bowl, add 1/2 tsp of salt. Add some oil to a large pan and pour the egg mixture to fry over medium heat like an omelette for 5-6min. Turn over with a spatula, it's OK if the egg breaks up at this time, you will be "cutting" up the egg into 1 by 2 inch pieces using the spatula after cooking the egg on the other side for 2-3 min. Remove cooked egg from the pan and set aside.

Next, add some oil to the pan and fry the beef over medium-high heat for 4-5 min until it's 80% cooked. Remove from the heat and set aside.

If you are using onions, fry these now over medium heat for 5-6 min. You can cook longer with the lid on to sweat onions until translucent, if you prefer them prepared that way. This blog outlines how to cook onions in various ways: http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-cook-onions-correctly-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-185575

Sliced and cooked flank steak

Cook the tomatoes over medium heat for a 3 min (you can keep the onions in the pan). Add the water and turn the heat down to simmer. Add ketchup and sugar and cook for on low heat for 10 min or until the tomatoes and very soft and juicy. You can add either some ketchup or sugar to adjust the taste to your liking. Turn the heat to medium and add egg and beef into the pan. Mix everything together and bring to a boil, for about 1 min. Serve over white or brown rice.

Cooked tomatoes - soft and juicy