Plum Pickled Cherry Tomatoes

Recipes

Adapted from:

• Cherry Tomato in Preserved Plum Syrup

Ingredients

Cherry tomatoes - 9 or 10
Water - 1 cup
Sugar - 25g
Preserved plum (huamei 话梅), seeded or unseeded - 3 or 4
Lemon juice from half a lemon

Technique

1 - Peel the tomatoes. Make a shallow score on the bottom of each tomato in the shape of a cross. Make sure not to score too deeply. Blanch the tomatoes for 30 seconds in simmering water, then place into a bowl of ice water immediately. The tomato skins will slip off easily.

2 - Make the pickling syrup. Dissolve 25g of sugar in 1 cup of water in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat and add the preserved plums to the syrup. Leave to steep for 10 minutes, then set aside to cool. Squeeze juice from half a lemon and set aside for use.

3 - Place the peeled cherry tomatoes into a small jar or bowl. Add the preserved plums from the pickling syrup. Pour in enough pickling syrup to cover and top it off with lemon juice.

4 - Let the tomatoes cool in the fridge for at least a few hours until completely chilled. Serve as a cold side dish or as a refreshing snack!

Preserved plums - huamei 话梅

I’d first tasted cherry tomatoes pickled with preserved plum (also known as huamei 话梅) at a restaurant in Hong Kong and I’ve never forgotten it since. Each tomato, beautifully peeled and presented, was an explosion of refreshing sweetness. And in that sweetness was also sourness and a hint of umami.

This big flavour comes from the preserved plums. Made by preserving plums in a mixture of licorice, salt, sugar and sometimes red colouring, the huamei are both snack and flavour-bomb ingredient.

To ensure that maximum flavour penetrates the cherry tomatoes, peel them before pickling. This is really easy - first make a gentle score on the bottom of each tomato with a cross. Ensure that you don’t cut too much into the tomato’s interior or it will  leak out. Then blanch the tomatoes briefly in simmering water. We don’t want to cook the tomatoes, only loosen the skin from the flesh. Place the tomatoes in iced water and the skins should slip right off.

Sweet, sour and umami

The ingredients of the pickling syrup are intended to complement the flavours of the preserved plum. Brown sugar or rock sugar give it a caramelised sweetness, but white sugar works just as well. A hit of lemon juice gives a different refreshing sourness. A sprig of mint leaves can work here as well.

I like the tomatoes best when they have been completely chilled. They really are the perfect hot-weather snack or side dish. Like any other pickle, they bring a lot to simple main dishes like rice porridge. I’m having it with sweet potato and adzuki bean rice porridge, and a side of spinach gomaae.

Keeping it simple

This is a much simpler recipe and process than usual, but I really wanted to do something celebratory and seasonal for these nine cherry tomatoes I’ve managed to grow from seed! It’s my little piece of apartment farm-to-table and most satisfying.