Name: Asian Tomato Salad
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 5 min
Ingredients: 1 pint cherry tomatoes (10 oz); 2 tsp fish sauce (or liquid aminos); 2 tsp rice vinegar; 1 ea shallot (thin sliced, or use 1-2 Tb chopped red onion); 1/4 tsp black pepper; 1/2 tsp sugar; 1/2 tsp salt; 4-6 leaves Thai basil (or mint, cilantro, Italian basil, or fresh leafy herb of choice)

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Wondering what to do with all those cherry tomatoes? Try this simple, juicy side dish that doesn’t require any cheese.

black Bowl of marinated asian tomato salad

Once we figure out what Asian Tomato Salad is, you may consider serving it alongside beef bulgogi , Japanese Mushroom Rice, or Hamachi Crudo.

What is Asian Tomato Salad?

To be very honest, I haven’t seen tomato salad in Asia very much. Not even in the hotter climate southeast countries of Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos.

I questioned writing a recipe for them, but cherry tomatoes are just so prevalent all that time that another recipe really couldn’t hurt.

They are especially sweet and plump in the summer but also not too bad most of the time out of the cartons that sit on the grocery shelf year round.

This recipe is adapted from a certain Kylie of cooking fame…

Kylie who?

First, there was Kylie Minogue who inspired a generation to “do the loco motion.” Then came Kylie Jenner of makeup & Instagram fame who tried to trademark the name until the original Kylie “nah ah.” But in between there was Kylie Kwong, an Australian Chinese chef.

Not many people in the US know about her, but she is a bestselling cookbook author and restaurateur in Australia.

A recipe for Asian tomatoes is found in her book, Simple Chinese Cooking. (Though I’ve not seen tomatoes much in China either.)

yellow and red cherry tomatoes in a bowl

The Secret Sauce

Fish sauce of course. It goes with everything! (Except your breath. This might temporarily induce bad breath.)

I wouldn’t recommend soy sauce since it’s too dark, and not quite the right flavor.

For vegans, proceed with liquid aminos.

Then we add a little rice vinegar, sugar, and fresh herbs to the mix. It reeks of Southeast Asian flavors, and it is glorious.

How to slice a lot of cherry tomatoes at one time

Place about half the cherry tomatoes in an even layer on a cutting board.

Find a plastic lid or light plate to cover the tomatoes.

Place your hand on top to steady the lid on the wobbly tomatoes, and run your knife horizontally through the middle.

Or if you’re very careful, you can do this with your hands and not plastic lids (but that takes practice).

Also using a serrated knife makes cutting tomatoes MUCH easier.

4 picture collage of slicing cherry tomatoes in half between 2 plastic lids

The process

Time needed: 15 minutes.

Let’s do this salad

Soften shallot
Slice the shallot and steep in the rice vinegar. This helps soften the shallot and take away that sharp, raw onion flavor.
Prep vegetables
Slice the cherry tomatoes in half. Slice the herbs using the chiffonade technique to avoid bruises. Layer the Thai basil leaves on top of each other, roll into a cigar, and slice thin.
Mix
Mix all the ingredients together with all the seasoning ingredients.
Serve
Serve right away or marinate overnight and serve the next day.

Helpful Tips

Friendly reminder to try and find the tastiest, ripest cherry tomatoes you can.
These taste better the next day after they’ve had time to marinate. Just let the tomatoes come to room temperature if you can after storing in the fridge.
Make ahead up to 1-2 days. The tomato texture starts to deteriorate after extended storage.

More Easy Tomato Dishes

Vietnamese “Fried” Fish with Tomato Sauce (Cá Chiên Sðt Cà)

Easy, Soupy, Chinese Egg & Tomato Stir-Fry

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