番茄炖牛腩 turns a connective, affordable beef cut into a clear-tasting, gelatinous braise. One portion of tomato melts into the sauce; a second stays bright enough to taste fresh.
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Calculated estimate · per serving
Nutrition information
medium confidence
1 of 6 recipe servings; optional 150 g cooked jasmine rice excluded
Energy
1810 kJ433 kcal
Protein
34.3 g
Carbohydrate
17.2 g
Sugars
9.8 g
Dietary fibre
3.7 g
Total fat
24 g
Saturated fat
8.7 g
Sodium
940 mg
How this estimate was calculated
Calculated from the authored edible ingredient weights using representative AFCD Release 3 and USDA FoodData Central profiles, then divided by the recipe yield. Energy follows the FSANZ ingredient-contribution method. Optional serving accompaniments are excluded. The calculation uses a representative raw beef chuck profile and counts all 30 ml measured oil and all recipe salt/soy; discarded blanching water contributes no nutrition.
Calculated estimate only, not a laboratory result or personalised dietary advice. Actual values vary with brands, produce, meat trim, substitutions, final serving size, and how much cooking or rendered oil is left in the pan or skimmed. Check packaged labels for allergens and sodium; consult an accredited practising dietitian or clinician for medical dietary needs.
Read the action and cue together. Move on when the food matches the cue.
Generated reference - not verified cook evidence.01
15 min
Peel, split, and stage the produce
Score a shallow X in each tomato. Cover with boiling water for 30–45 seconds, then cool in cold water and peel. Core without discarding seeds or juice. Finely chop roughly 800 g and cut the remaining 400 g into 3 cm wedges. Finely chop the onion and garlic. Divide the ginger: slice half and finely chop half. Cut two scallions into thirds for blanching; slice the remaining whites and reserve all greens for serving.
Two clearly different tomato cuts are ready, with every seed and drop of juice retained and the aromatics separated by use.
Common mistake: Draining tomato juice removes the liquid and flavour needed to build the sauce.
Recovery: Pause before the next step, compare the cue, then correct heat, moisture, or seasoning while the dish is still flexible.
Generated reference - not verified cook evidence.02
12 min
Blanch and clean the beef
Put the beef in the clean heavy pot with about 2 L cold water, the sliced ginger, scallion thirds, and 15 ml of the measured Shaoxing wine. Bring slowly to a boil, skim, and boil for 2 minutes. Drain, rinse the cubes with warm water, wash the pot, and pat the beef very dry. Reserve the remaining 15 ml Shaoxing for the tomato base. The beef remains raw for safety purposes after this cleaning step.
The cubes are clean grey-brown with visible collagen seams and no beige foam or dark clots attached.
Common mistake: Keeping the blanch water muddies the sauce; putting wet beef into oil causes dangerous spitting.
Recovery: Spread the food out, raise heat only after moisture drops, and hold back extra sauce until the pan is frying again.
Generated reference - not verified cook evidence.03
15 min
Brown in uncrowded batches
Heat the washed, completely dry Dutch oven over medium-high. Add all the measured neutral oil and brown the dried beef in two batches. Leave each batch undisturbed long enough to colour two broad faces, then move it to a tray. The cubes do not need colour on every side.
Dry mahogany patches contrast with paler edges, and the pot holds clean brown fond with no black residue.
Common mistake: Crowding releases steam; blackening the fond makes the tomato sauce bitter.
Recovery: Move the pan off heat, scrape only the unburnt paste into a clean spot, add a small splash of oil or liquid, and restart gently.
Generated reference - not verified cook evidence.04
20 min
Cook a concentrated tomato base
Lower the pot to medium. Cook the prepared onion for 6–8 minutes until soft and lightly gold. Add the prepared chopped ginger, garlic, scallion whites, star anise, and cassia for 60 seconds. Fry the tomato paste for 1–2 minutes until brick red. Add the finely chopped tomato with all its juice, rock sugar, and 4 g of the measured salt. Cook for 8–10 minutes, pressing occasionally, until thick and glossy. Deglaze with the reserved 15 ml Shaoxing and reserve the remaining salt for the finish.
A spatula leaves a trail that closes slowly, tiny oil glints appear, and the raw tomato-paste smell is gone.
Common mistake: Adding braising water while the tomatoes still look raw produces a thin, one-dimensional stew.
Recovery: Reduce uncovered and season in small rounds, checking the visual cue before adding more salt, sugar, or sauce.
Generated reference - not verified cook evidence.05
1 hr 45 min–2 hr 15 min
Hold a bare simmer until truly tender
Return the browned beef and its tray juices. Add the light soy and exactly 900 ml boiling water. Bring to a boil, skim once, then partly cover and hold the Dutch oven at roughly 88–95°C: small edge bubbles and only an occasional centre bubble. Turn pieces every 30 minutes and top up only with boiling water if they become exposed. Remove the star anise and cassia after 1 hour. Begin testing at 1 1/2 hours; continue in 20-minute blocks until a skewer enters the centre with little resistance and a spoon can split a cube while it still lifts intact.
The pot barely simmers, and the most resistant cube, not the clock, eventually yields to a skewer and spoon.
Common mistake: Stopping when the beef is merely cooked leaves collagen chewy; boiling harder tightens the meat and breaks the sauce.
Recovery: Lower the heat immediately, skim or stir gently, and continue at a small simmer until the surface calms.
Generated reference - not verified cook evidence.06
15 min
Add fresh tomato and glaze the sauce
Add the reserved tomato wedges and simmer uncovered for 8–12 minutes. Their edges should soften while their centres retain shape. If the sauce is watery, temporarily lift out the beef and intact tomato wedges, reduce the liquid briskly, then return them. Add the white pepper and only enough of the reserved salt after reduction. Do not use cornstarch to disguise unreduced broth.
The sauce coats a spoon in a glossy, pourable film, with both melted tomato and recognisable softened wedges.
Common mistake: Hard boiling destroys the fresh tomato phase; salting before reduction can make the final glaze too salty.
Recovery: Lower the heat immediately, skim or stir gently, and continue at a small simmer until the surface calms.
Generated reference - not verified cook evidence.07
10 min
Rest, skim, and serve
Rest the pot off heat for 10 minutes. Skim only any large free-fat pool while retaining the glossy gelatin. Fold in the prepared scallion greens and serve with the optional hot jasmine rice. Cool leftovers in shallow portions from 60°C to 21°C within 2 hours, then to 5°C within another 4 hours. Refrigerate for up to 4 days or freeze for 2–3 months; reheat rapidly to 74°C.
A spoon-cut cube exposes moist fibres and the glossy sauce clings without a watery ring.
Common mistake: Aggressive skimming removes body; leaving a full hot Dutch oven to cool slowly is unsafe.
Recovery: Stop and discard the unsafe ingredient. Restart with a prepared edible version from a trusted food supplier.
Fix problems
Find the decision that changes the result.
The active method already includes its most likely mistake and recovery. Open the reference library when your question falls outside the current step.
Browse 9 recipe answers
9/9
Which beef cut gives the best Chinese tomato stew?
Choose chuck, brisket, gravy beef, shin, or boneless short rib with visible collagen seams. Lean topside may become dry before it reaches the spoon-tender cue.
Can I make Chinese Tomato Beef Stew in a pressure cooker?
Yes. Build the tomato base first, add beef, soy, and 750 ml hot water, then cook at high pressure for 35 minutes and natural-release for 15 minutes. Add the fresh tomato wedges and reduce uncovered afterward.
How do I fix a watery tomato beef stew?
Lift out the tender beef and intact tomato wedges, reduce the liquid uncovered until it coats a spoon, then return the solids. Cornstarch would hide rather than solve an unreduced broth.
Why are the tomatoes added in two stages?
The first 800 g collapses into a concentrated sauce; the final 400 g keeps fresh acidity, colour, and recognisable tomato texture.
What is the decisive ready cue for Chinese Tomato Beef Stew?
Know when the beef is truly spoon-tender while keeping the tomato sauce glossy, not watery. Look for melted tomato sauce plus softened intact wedges with no watery ring: The sauce clings in a glossy pourable film while recognisable softened tomato wedges remain visible.
What should I do if Chinese Tomato Beef Stew misses its cue?
Keeping the blanch water muddies the sauce; putting wet beef into oil causes dangerous spitting. Spread the food out, raise heat only after moisture drops, and hold back extra sauce until the pan is frying again.
How should I scale Chinese Tomato Beef Stew?
Scale the measured ingredients with the serving count, then scale the vessel or work in batches. Keep the same visual finish - melted tomato sauce plus softened intact wedges with no watery ring - rather than forcing the original timer.
Which substitutions are tested for Chinese Tomato Beef Stew?
beef chuck or brisket: boneless short rib for a richer premium version; ripe round or vine tomatoes: in poor tomato season, use one 800 g can whole peeled tomatoes for the chopped portion, plus 400 g fresh tomatoes for finishing; yellow onion: 150 g shallots; neutral cooking oil: rice-bran, canola, peanut, or vegetable oil
Which Chinese Tomato Beef Stew ingredients should not be swapped casually?
beef chuck or brisket: Avoid lean topside; visible connective seams are what become gelatin during the long braise.; ripe round or vine tomatoes: Keep every seed and drop of juice; draining them removes flavour and useful braising liquid.; garlic: Keep it pale; dark garlic makes the long braise bitter.; Shaoxing cooking wine, divided: Contains alcohol and may contain wheat or sulphites; check the exact label.
Current links help you search by the right ingredient name; they do not confirm a product, price, or stock level.
Melbournebeef chuck or brisket (daging sapi sandung lamur atau sengkel)
Start with a high-turnover butcher or Asian butcher for chuck, brisket, gravy beef, shin, or boneless short rib with visible connective seams. Mr Dad Queen Street is the nearest specialist stop in this guide; Laguna QV, KT Mart, and Tokyo Hometown are useful pantry alternatives, but no store listing is a live stock promise.
beef chuck or brisket: boneless short rib for a richer premium version.
beef chuck or brisket: Avoid lean topside; visible connective seams are what become gelatin during the long braise.
These links open searches, catalogues, or store locators. Check the exact form and local availability there.
Jakartadaging sapi sandung lamur atau sengkel (beef chuck or brisket)
Ask a trusted pasar butcher or supermarket meat counter for sandung lamur or sengkel with visible connective seams; avoid very lean cuts for this long braise.
beef chuck or brisket: boneless short rib for a richer premium version.
beef chuck or brisket: Avoid lean topside; visible connective seams are what become gelatin during the long braise.
ripe tomato, scallion, ginger, garlic, light soy, star anise, cassia
Blanching keeps the braise clean; brief browning restores roasted depth. Tomato paste and the first tomato cut form a concentrated base, while late tomato wedges preserve acidity, colour, and identity.
Taste profile
Deep fresh tomato, gelatinous beef, restrained soy, ginger warmth, and a faint star-anise and cassia finish.
番茄炖牛腩 is Chinese home cooking with many family versions, not one settled provincial formula. Potatoes, carrots, oyster sauce, ketchup, and blanch-versus-sear choices all vary.
Contains or may contain: soy, wheat/gluten depending on soy sauce and Shaoxing wine.
Check packaged-ingredient labels and cross-contamination advice for the brands you use.
Budget
Planning estimate only - not live or locally verified pricing
Indonesia
Rp180k–230k family pot
Australia
A$35–45 family pot
What belongs where
One dish. Distinct flavour parts.
This family braise gets depth from browned beef and a cooked tomato foundation, then regains freshness from the final tomato addition. Rice remains an optional serving partner rather than a thickener.
Bumbu or sambal?A 30-second beginner glossary
Bumbu
The dish's seasoning system: it may be ground, sliced, or left whole, but it is cooked into the food. Bumbu does not automatically mean a jarred paste.
Sambal
A chilli-led preparation with its own salt, acid, aroma, and texture. It can be fresh or cooked and usually remains a condiment, even when you make it during the recipe.
Sauce, glaze, or broth
These words describe function and texture. A broth carries the dish; a glaze coats it; neither becomes bumbu simply because it is strongly seasoned.
Pelengkap
The accompaniments that complete a plate - lalapan, rice, crackers, herbs, lime, or fried shallot. Add them at serving unless the method says otherwise.
01
Main componentCooked into the dish
Tomato-beef braise
Make it
Brown the blanched, dried beef, cook onion, ginger, garlic, tomato, and tomato paste until concentrated, then simmer with restrained soy, wine, spice, and water until connective tissue relaxes.
Ready when
Beef yields to a spoon while holding shape, and the sauce coats it without a greasy slick or raw tomato-paste taste.
Keep separate
This is a tomato-led beef braise, not a generic red bumbu or a Western flour-thickened stew.
Store safely
Cool in shallow portions within the stated food-safety window, refrigerate, and reheat rapidly until piping hot.
Storage notes are conservative home-kitchen guidance. Chill perishable food within 2 hours, keep it at 5°C or colder, and follow local food-safety and package directions when they are stricter.
Sources & evidence
What supports this guide.
Sources support the specific technique or safety point stated below. Generated reference imagery is editorial guidance, not proof that this recipe has passed an independent cook test.
Cross-checks a Chinese family tomato-beef braise using a clean blanch, connective beef, a concentrated tomato base, long gentle cooking, and fresh tomatoes added in stages.
Boundary: This is a modern family recipe source, not evidence that every Chinese household uses the same aromatics, vegetables, or blanch-and-brown sequence.
Cross-checks a 1 kg brisket scale, peeled tomato, a wine-scallion-ginger blanch, tomato-paste base, and roughly one-and-a-half-hour tenderness window.
Boundary: This is a community recipe rather than a regional authority; its formula supports home-cook technique, not a universal origin or authenticity claim.
Applies two-stage cooling to the finished braise: 60°C to 21°C within two hours, then 21°C to 5°C within four hours, using shallow portions and rapid reheating.
Boundary: A full Dutch oven cools too slowly as one mass. The guidance does not validate the recipe's tenderness timing or storage quality.
Separates safety from tenderness: intact beef reaches the conservative chart endpoint before collagen becomes spoon-tender, while leftovers are reheated to 74°C.
Boundary: Internal temperature cannot replace the skewer-resistance test for braise quality; the recipe requires both safe handling and collagen tenderness.
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