I couldn’t stop thinking about these pickled cherry tomatoes after I had them at Taipei’s Zen Tea Restaurant (禪風茶樓) for dim sum. The little glistening peeled tomatoes were bursting with cool, sweet juice, infused with the flavor of hua mei (话梅), salted dried plums. I found myself reaching out and popping the tomatoes into my mouth between bites of other dim sum like pan-fried radish cakes, flaky fried taro pastries, crystal dumplings, etc for a palate-cleanser. Their refreshing, sweet-salty juice cut through the richness perfectly.
Using hua mei to flavor a pickling brine: The dried plums are preserved with salt and other spices until they’re shriveled and deliciously sweet-salty, and people usually buy them to suck on as a mouth-puckering candy. But you can also use them in cooking— they’re a key ingredient in traditional Cantonese plum sauce. Here, all you have to do is simmer the plums in the pickling brine and then let the tomatoes sit in the liquid and soak up all the aromatic, funky flavor.
For the ingredients, you’ll need to find preserved plums, which are available in any Asian grocery store, and sugar— I like using rock sugar (冰糖 bing tang) but regular granulated sugar will also work. Instead of a vinegar, I actually prefer lime or lemon juice; the freshly squeezed juice adds a gentler, more fruity acidity than vinegar, and the citrus aroma goes particularly well with the cherry tomatoes.
Once pickled, the cherry tomatoes will keep for a few weeks in the fridge, and you can spoon out a few glistening red orbs into a little dish for the table for every meal. Invite guests to pop one into their mouth between bites for a burst of palate-cleansing brightness. This is a wonderful sweet appetizer to go with spicy or heavier dishes, or you can snack on them just on their own.
Print📖 Recipe
Cherry tomatoes pickled with dried plums 话梅腌小番茄 | hua mei yan xiao fan qie
Juicy, sweet tomato orbs pickled in a sour brine infused with hua mei, salty-sweet Chinese dried plums. A chilled, effervescent, and refreshing appetizer to serve with dim sum dishes or as a starter.
Ingredients
- 1 pint (300 grams) cherry tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons (25 grams) rock sugar, a chunk slightly smaller than a golf ball
- 8 to 10 dried salted plums
- Juice of two limes, about ¼ cup (60 mL)
Instructions
- Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Using a sharp-tipped knife, make two small cuts in a cross-shape on the bottom of each cherry tomato. Blanch the tomatoes in the boiling water for 10 seconds, then drain and shock in a bowl of ice water to loosen the skins. Remove the skins and set aside.
- In a small saucepan, combine 2 cups (480mL) filtered water, sugar, and the dried salted plums. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and cook over medium-low until the liquid is reduced by about a third. This will take about 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool completely; the salted plums will release more of their flavor as they soak.
- Add the lime juice and the peeled tomatoes to a pint-sized mason jar. Pour in just enough brining liquid to fully submerge the tomatoes. Seal the lid and let tomatoes marinate overnight in the fridge. Spoon out a small amount with a clean utensil each time you serve, and return the jar to the fridge. The tomatoes will keep for up to three weeks, and their flavor will intensify over time.
Mathison Ingham says
This looks incredible can’t wait to try