why don't chinese cook with tomatoes?

Answer 1

They may not have been indigenous to China, but they are widely used.


CHINESE BEEF WITH TOMATOES:

INGREDIENTS:

3/4 pound beef
Marinade:
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
2 teaspoons water
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
Pepper to taste
Cornstarch to lightly coat beef

Other:

4 medium tomatoes
2 green onions
2 shallots
2 ribs celery
Sauce:
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons oyster sauce, as desired
1/3 cup water

PREPARATION:

Cut the beef across the grain into thin slices approximately 1 1/2 inches long. Place the beef in a bowl, add the marinade ingredients and mix in with chopsticks, adding the cornstarch last. If you like, you can also add a bit of baking soda to tenderize the beef. Marinate for 15 minutes.

While the beef is marinating, prepare the vegetables. Slice the tomatoes into six equal pieces. Chop the green onions and celery into thin slices along the diagonal. Dice the shallots.

Mix together the sauce ingredients and set aside.

Heat wok and add oil. When oil is ready, add the beef. Stir-fry until it changes color, turning the meat over once. Remove from the wok and set aside. Clean out the wok and add more oil. Saute the shallots, and add the tomatoes and the celery. Add the sauce. Cover and bring to a boil. Return the beef to the wok and mix together. You can either add the green onion as well or serve it cold as a garnish. Serve hot over rice.

Answer 2

Tomatoes: Because of their high water content, tomatoes do not go well in all stir-fried dishes. However, they have many uses in Chinese home-cooking. The tomato is excellent in sweet and sour sauces or hot and sour ones, in a sour sauce with beef, in tofu, and in seafood dishes. It also matches well with eggs in stir-fried and soup dishes. The bight red color of the tomato makes this vegetable a beautiful garnish for both hot and cold platters, as well.

Here is one recipe as an example where tomatoes are a part of the ingredients. Try it you will love it.

STIR-FRIED TOMATOES WITH EGGS

Ingredients:
6 Tablespoons oil
1 Tablespoon chopped scallions, white part only
1 large tomato, cut in cubes
2 teaspoons oyster sauce
salt to taste
1 Tablespoon chopped scallions, green part only
5 large eggs, beaten well

Preparation:
1. Heat one tablespoon oil and sizzle scallions until light brown.
2. Add tomato and oyster sauce and a dash of salt. Remove and set aside.
3. Heat the rest of the oil and fry the green scallion parts a few seconds and then pour in the eggs. Let them bubble a few seconds, then stir allowing the egg to set slowly.
4. Add the tomato mixture, mix thoroughly, and serve.

Answer 3

Uhh... it's hard to answer your question because Chinese do cook with tomatoes.

A very common dish that you can find anywhere in China is "xi hong shi ji dan." It consists of tomatoes and eggs, and I hear it is quite delicious, but I can't vouch for that as I don't like eggs and so have never tried this dish.

As for others who said tomatoes are not grown in China, this is another misconception, I have seen them being grown with my own eyes here in China.

Don't believe me? Then you can go to www.daxueyingyu.com/forum and ask for yourself. This is my website and many of the users are Chinese university students who speak English.

Good luck!

Ps: If you have any questions about China/Chinese then I think my website is a great place to visit! :)

Answer 4

Here in NZ and in most of the countries I've visited, most Chinese restaurants are Cantonese. I've noticed that you never see tomato dishes there too. Guess they just aren't used in Cantonese cuisine. Tomatoes, capsicums and chillis are all closely related and all come from South America, but chillis and capsicums are used in China, especially in tropical places like Szechuan.

Answer 5

Chinese people cook with tomatoes. Where did you hear they didn't?

Answer 6

Most likely it is because they were never really introduced to them. Contrary to popular belief that tomatoes are from the mediterranean, they are in fact from the Americas, it even took a few centuries for the Italians to start using them after they were brought back by explorers (they were thought to be poisonous)

Answer 7

They do

Beef with tomatoes

Serves 4

Ingredients:

500 g / 15 oz rump steak
500 g / oz tomatoes
1 brown onion chopped
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp rice wine or sherry
1/2 tsp vinegar
2 clove garlic crushed
4 slices ginger
2 tbsp peanut or vegetable oil
1 tsp cornflower mixed with 1 tbsp water
2 spring onions / shallots chopped

Directions:

Heat oil in wok, add garlic and ginger, add steak and stir fry on high heat until two thirds cooked, add soy sauce, then set steak aside.
Place quartered tomatoes, chopped onions, sugar and vinegar in wok and cook until mixture reaches boiling point, stirring occasionally.
Add steak, cornflour mix, stir a few times, and serve, garnished with chopped shallots.
Serve with steamed rice or noodles.


Scallops with Steamed Egg White

Ingredients:

3 tomatoes
1/2 tsp. scallion, shredded
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. fresh ginger, shredded
1 tsp. salt, or to taste
1 1/2 tsp. sugar
4 tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 tsp. MSG (optional)

Directions:

1. Drop the tomatoes in boiling water for 30 seconds. Remove, drain, and peel. Cut in half, squeeze out the seeds, and chop coarsely.

2. Beat the eggs with the 1/4 tsp. salt.

3. Heat 2 tbsp of the oil in a wok over high heat until the oil surface ripples . Pour in the eggs and cook, stirring constantly, until thickened. Remove from the wok and place in a dish. Add the other 2 tbsp of oil to the wok and reheat until very hot. Add the scallions and ginger and stir-fry for a few seconds. Then add the tomato, the remaining salt, sugar and MSG (optional) . Stir-fry about 30 seconds, then return the scrambled eggs to the wok . Stir to blend, remove, and serve.

Answer 8

They are actually starting to use tomatoes. Tomatoes are a new world food to them.

Answer 9

First of all, we do have tomatoes here, imported or from local plantation! Perhaps, you have never been to travel, but you are welcome to travel to Hong Kong or any Asia countries, tomato is just as common as other vegetables here. The world is getting smaller! May be you should watch more TV!

We do cook eggs with tomatoes!
http://www.mkc.zaq.ne.jp/kingsharem/EGG%20TOMATO.jpg
We cook tomatoes, potatoes + pork bone soup
http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3DTomato%2Band%2Bpotato%2Bsoup%26ei%3DUTF-8%26fr%3Dyfp-t-501%26x%3Dwrt&w=240&h=179&imgurl=www.leisure-cat.com%2Fimages%2FPototo%2520Tomato%2520Pig%2520bone%2520Soup.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.leisure-cat.com%2Ffrm_1153.htm&size=19.0kB&name=Pototo+Tomato+Pig+bone+Soup.jpg&p=Tomato+and+potato+soup&type=jpeg&no=7&tt=144&oid=7d417228adfee3ca&ei=UTF-8

At home, we cook tomato and tofu with fresh water fish, it tastes real good!

Answer 10

tomatoes are a new world food, that's why