Curry Tomato Beef Heart Chow Mein (咖哩番茄牛心炒麵, Gaa3 Lei1 Faan1 Ke4 Ngau4 Sam1 Caau2 Min6)

This recipe was updated on 02 Jul 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed.

Here’s a variation on Tomato Beef Chow Mein (番茄牛肉炒麵, Faan¹ Ke⁴ Ngau⁴ Juk⁶ Caau² Min⁶) recipe using beef hearts instead of the usual beef flank. Also instead of using fresh beef hearts, I used Grilled Spicy Beef Hearts (燒烤辣牛心, Siu¹ Haau¹ Laat⁶ Ngau⁴ Sam¹). The beef hearts give an added crunch to the dish. The tomatoes came from my garden and this batch didn’t hold up to stir frying very well, so I got tomato skins in the finished dish rather than tomato wedges!

Enjoy!

Ingredients

¾ lb.	375 g.	Beef heart (牛心, ngau4 sam1), cut into 1-inch (2.5 cm.) pieces
1 tsp.	5 ml.	Baking soda (蘇打粉, sou1 daa2 fan2)
½ in.	15 mm.	Knob of ginger (薑, goeng1), crushed in a garlic press
2 cloves	2 cloves	Garlic (蒜, syun3), crushed in a garlic press
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Corn starch (粟粉, suk1 fan2)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Soy sauce (豉油, si6 jau4)
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Hoisin sauce (海鮮醬, hoi2 sin1 zoeng3)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Shaoxing rice wine (紹興酒, siu6 hing1 zau2) or dry sherry
½ tsp.	2.5 ml.	Ground white pepper (白胡椒, baak6 wu4 ziu1)
1 tsp.	5 ml.	Sesame oil (麻油, maa4 jau4)
8 oz.	226 g.	One package fried tofu (魚豆腐, jyu4 dau6 fu6)
7.4 oz.	210 g.	One 15 oz. (425 g.) can peeled straw mushrooms (草菇, cou2 gu1), drained
4-6 stalks	4-6 stalks	Baby bok choy (小白菜, siu2 baak6 coi3), quartered
4-6	4-6	Large tomatoes (番茄, faan1 ke4), cut into wedges (I used many small tomatoes from my garden)
½ in.	15 mm.	Knob of ginger (薑, goeng1), crushed in a garlic press
2 cloves	2 cloves	Garlic (蒜, syun3), crushed in a garlic press
3 stalks	3 stalks	Green onions (蔥, cung1), cut into 2-inch (5 cm.) pieces
1 lb.	500 g.	One package chow mein noodles (炒麵, caau2 min6)
		Oil for cooking

 

Sauce Ingredients

4-6 Tbs.	60-90 ml.	Rice vinegar (米醋, mai5 cou3)
2-4 Tbs.	30-60 ml.	Hoisin sauce (海鮮醬, hoi2 sin1 zoeng3)
1-2 Tbs.	15-30 ml.	Madras or regular curry powder (咖哩粉, gaa3 lei1 fan2)
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Worcestershire sauce (喼汁, kip1 zap1)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Soy sauce (豉油, si6 jau4)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Thick soy sauce (上珠油, soeng6 zyu1 jau4) or soy paste (豆醬, dau6 zoeng3)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Shaoxing rice wine (紹興酒, siu6 hing1 zau2) or dry sherry
½ tsp.	2.5 ml.	Ground white pepper (白胡椒, baak6 wu4 ziu1)
½ Tbs.	7.5 ml.	Sesame oil (麻油, maa4 jau4)
		Water or chicken stock

 

Equipment

		Garlic press
14 in.	35.5 cm.	Wok or pan

 

Preparation Instructions

1. If purchased fresh and whole, the beef heart needs to be cut into long ½-inch (12 mm.) wide slices. Prepare the beef heart slices by removing any fat, silver skin, and veins, and then cut each slice into 1-inch (2.5 cm.) pieces.
2. Marinate the beef heart in a covered container for at least one hour or overnight in the refrigerator with the ginger and garlic crushed in a garlic press, corn starch, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry, ground white pepper, and sesame oil. If marinating the beef heart overnight, take it out of the refrigerator at least one hour before cooking.
3. Alternatively, Grilled Spicy Beef Hearts (燒烤辣牛心, Siu¹ Haau¹ Laat⁶ Ngau⁴ Sam¹), cut into 1-inch (2.5 cm.) pieces, can be used in place of fresh beef hearts.
4. Open the fried tofu package and drain any liquid from the package.
5. Open and drain the liquid from the can of straw mushrooms.
6. Wash and quarter the baby bok choy. You can also choose to separate the individual leaves instead of quartering.
7. Wash the tomatoes and cut into wedges. In my case, the tomatoes from my garden were the size of large cherry tomatoes, so I just cut them in half.
8. Crush the ginger and garlic in a garlic press and put into a small bowl.
9. Wash and cut the green onions into 2-inch (5 cm.) pieces.

Sauce Preparation Instructions

The balance of sourness to sweetness is controlled by the amount of rice vinegar and hoisin sauce used in the sauce, and that balance depends upon personal preference. I use hoisin sauce rather than sugar because it adds to the sauce’s thickness and you want the sauce to be somewhat thick (you could also use a corn starch slurry). I would taste the sauce to gauge the balance. The sauce should taste concentrated and stronger than you prefer since it will be diluted once you add it to the other ingredients.

The amount of Madras curry powder is also a personal preference, so you’ll have to determine how much to add. Madras curry powder is a brand used frequently in curried Chinese dishes and can be purchased in any Asian market. Regular curry powder can be used if Madras curry powder is not available.

1. Prepare the sauce in a small bowl by adding 4 Tbs. (60 ml.) rice vinegar and 2 Tbs. (30 ml.) hoisin sauce. Mix the ingredients together and then taste the mixture. The balance of sweet to sour is a personal preference, so if the mixture tastes too sweet, add more rice vinegar, and if the mixture is too sour, add more hoisin sauce.
2. Add to the sauce bowl and mix together: Madras curry powder, Worchester sauce, soy sauce, thick soy sauce or soy paste, Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry, ground white pepper, and sesame oil. Worchester sauce is not a normal ingredient in Chinese dishes, but I’ve found that this makes a great taste combination together with Madras curry powder.

Cooking Instructions

1. Cook the noodles according to the instructions on the package and until the noodles are al dente. Drain the noodles and set aside. If using thawed, ready-made, or fresh noodles, “fluff” the noodles to separate them (i.e. you don’t want put a single mass of noodles into the wok).
2. Heat the wok or pan over high heat before adding oil and then the beef hearts. If using Grilled Spicy Beef Hearts (燒烤辣牛心, Siu¹ Haau¹ Laat⁶ Ngau⁴ Sam¹), which are already cooked, quickly stir fry the beef hearts to warm them up. If using fresh beef hearts, stir fry the beef hearts until brown by forming one layer of beef hearts in the wok and leaving the beef hearts alone for a while before stir frying. You may need to stir fry the beef hearts in batches, in which case, make sure to allow the wok to reheat over high heat before adding oil and the next batch of beef hearts. Transfer the browned beef hearts to a bowl.
3. Reheat the wok over high heat, add more oil, add the straw mushrooms, and stir fry. Transfer the straw mushrooms to the bowl containing the beef hearts.
4. Reheat the wok over high heat, add more oil, add the fried tofu, and stir fry. Transfer the fried tofu to the bowl containing the beef hearts.
5. Reheat the wok over high heat before adding oil and then the baby bok choy. Stir fry the baby bok choy to brown them. Add the bowl with the ginger and garlic, and then some oil to the mixture. Quickly stir fry all the ingredients until the ginger and garlic become fragrant. Transfer the contents of the wok to the bowl containing the beef hearts.
6. Reheat the wok over high heat before adding more oil and then the noodles. The wok should be very hot before adding the oil and then the noodles. Noodles cooked in a restaurant wok (over much higher heat than that available in your kitchen) are served slightly burned, which gives the noodles an extra added flavor.  To try to emulate slightly burned noodles, try to put the noodles in one layer in the hot wok and add some liquid (water, stock, or Shaoxing wine; but not too much liquid otherwise you’ll steam the noodles) to facilitate the heat transfer from the wok to the noodles, and leave the noodles alone. You want the noodles to get burned before adding more oil to the noodles and turning them over, repeating the process.
7. Add the contents of the bowl with the cooked beef hearts and other ingredients back into the wok and stir fry the ingredients together.
8. Add the tomatoes and green onions to the wok and gently mix in these ingredients. You add the tomatoes at the end to preserve their shape. You want to see chunks or wedges of tomatoes in the finished dish.
9. Add the sauce to the wok and combine the ingredients. You want a slightly thick sauce for this dish. You may need to add water or chicken stock to the wok to adjust the thickness or if you desire more sauce. Put the cooked ingredients into a serving dish and serve immediately.