This is a popular dish in Hong Kong cafes and one of my favorite beef tongue recipes. It has braised beef tongue, tomato sauce, and egg-fried rice. In the traditional recipe, the entire dish is baked in the oven, but for this recipe, I did not bake it. However, you could easily bake it if you want to.
If you're looking for another Hong Kong dish, try my Hong Kong French Toast!
This is inspired by one of my favorite dishes at Hong Kong-style cafes. It's sometimes called Baked Ox Tongue in Tomato Sauce. There are three separate components to prepare. You'll need to braise the beef tongue, prepare a tomato sauce, and make the egg-fried rice.
Beef tongue is a pretty tough cut of meat so the best way to cook it is low and slow for 4 hours. This will make the meat very tender. One thing to keep in mind is there is a tough outer layer of skin that has to be removed. It's very difficult to remove raw so I recommend doing it after cooking.
How to braise beef tongue
I recommend braising it in a heavily seasoned liquid made with soy sauce, sugar, and salt. The reason I make it very salty is because the seasoning has to penetrate through the skin. I braised the beef tongue for about 4 hours. I noticed the beef tongue floats in the water, so I flipped it every 60 minutes so it would cook evenly.
How to peel and slice beef tongue
After cooking for a few hours, the skin is very easy to peel off. I just found a loose part from the sides and started peeling from there.
After you peel it, just slice the tongue into ¼-inch thick pieces. I wanted smaller pieces so I sliced it crosswise. After the first few slices, I realized the muscle fibers were running lengthwise, so crosswise was a good choice. You always want to cut across the muscle fibers so the meat feels more tender.
How to prepare the tomato sauce
Unlike other tomato sauces, this one is thickened with flour and contains butter. This is the Cantonese way of making tomato sauce. You want to fry the onions in butter until they are golden which can take anywhere from 5-7 minutes. Then you add flour which will thicken the sauce.
For the tomatoes, I used canned tomatoes, but you could substitute this with fresh tomatoes if you wanted to. I think canned tomatoes taste better though because they are always picked at peek ripeness. The sauce should have a consistency that looks like this:
If the sauce ends up too watery, just cook it for a bit longer to reduce the water content. Or if it ends up too thick, just add more water. But keep in mind you may need to add a little more salt as well.
How to prepare the rice
Normally this has some mixed veggies like carrots and peas but I just made it with eggs only. The key is the pour the eggs over the rice so that you end up with an even yellow color.
Beef Tongue in Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
For the beef tongue
- 1 beef tongue
- 5 cloves garlic (smashed)
- 3 slices ginger
- 3 pieces star anise
- 1 cup soy sauce
- ¼ cup dark soy sauce (optional)
- ½ cup sugar
- 3 tablespoons salt
For the tomato sauce
- ¼ cup butter
- 1 large onion (chopped)
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons chicken bouillon powder
- 1 pinch MSG (optional)
- ¼ cup water
Instructions
For the beef tongue
- Combine all the beef tongue ingredients in a large pot. Add enough water to completely submerge the beef tongue by ½ an inch of water.
- Bring to a boil then reduce to a very gentle simmer. Cover and cook for 4 hours. Beef tongue tends to float so I like to flip it every 60 minutes or so it cooks evenly.
- Remove the beef tongue and set it aside for 10 minutes to cool down (you can also run it under cold water if you're in a hurry).
- Remove the tough outer layer of skin from the tongue. I just found a loose part on the sides and started peeling from there.
- Slice the beef tongue into ¼-inch thick slices. I sliced crosswise so that the pieces would be smaller.
For the tomato sauce
- In a large nonstick pan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook for 5-7 minutes until translucent and very soft. Try not to brown the onions. You may need to turn the heat a bit lower near the end.
- Stir in the flour until it is evenly incorporated.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Add the beef tongue and let it simmer for another 15 minutes.
For the egg fried rice
- Whisk the eggs and salt in a small bowl.
- Heat a wok over high heat. Add the oil and wait for it to shimmer (it's very important for the oil to be hot otherwise the rice will stick)
- Add the rice then immediately pour the egg mixture all over the rice.
- Use a spatula to fold the rice every 10 seconds until the egg is cooked through. I love it when the rice gets a little bit of browning on the bottom between each fold.
- To assemble the dish, scoop some rice, then ladle the tomato sauce and ox tongue on top.
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