This dish is a personal favorite that always brings me back to my childhood. Plus it highlights one of my favorite summer ingredients: tomatoes!
WE SAY TOMATOES
I’m participating in a seasonal ingredient collaboration today and it’s all about tomatoes!
When it comes to summer heirloom tomatoes, you don’t need to do much to make a great dish. Their bright colors, variety, natural sweetness, and juiciness make them an easy show stopper even if all you add is salt! I look forward to heirlooms every year and my favorite ways to enjoy are with olive oil, alongside slices of fresh mozzarella, tossed with herbs, or just on top of country bread with a good smear of mayonnaise.
In light of my goal to share more food close to my heritage (and heart) in this space, I’m sharing this favorite filipino salad of mine: tomatoes with salted eggs. I grew up eating this as a garnish or ‘salsa’ alongside a whole fried fish or thinly sliced steak.
WHAT IS A SALTED EGG?
So I know a salted egg might sound odd if you’re not familiar. But don’t be afraid. It’s simply an egg (usually a duck egg) that has been brined in salt and water. That’s it. Salted eggs can be made fairly easily, but the process takes about thirty days. So instead I bought these at my local Asian supermarket. I do eventually want to try making them on my own and maybe adding spices to it. Oooh, just thought of that right now.
You might be asking yourself what happens when you brine an egg for thirty days?? Well not surprisingly it becomes very salty. But more importantly, a bit of magic happens with the yolk. Once brined, the yolk becomes a deep orange color. It also develops a rich, almost buttery flavor. The texture becomes grainy, but with a lil’ ooze of oil.
Alone, I do find the the eggs a bit too salty for my taste. But in combination with juicy, ripe tomatoes, it’s a lovely balance. And then when you top on rice, mmm hmmm. Sooo goooood.
THIS RECIPE
Growing up, my mom always mixed Roma or grape tomatoes with spicy vinegar and soy sauce, and then tossed in the chopped salted egg. This recipe stays fairly true to that. I used heirloom tomatoes because they’re just too beautiful and flavorful not to. For the dressing, I used white cane vinegar, which is a little sweeter than white wine vinegar, and also added minced shallots.
Once the dressing was made, I simply drizzled over the tomatoes, lightly tossed and topped with the chopped duck egg and scallions.
I served with a big bowl of white rice and fairytale eggplant sautéed in coconut oil. Seriously, sooo good.
I hope you give this recipe a shot friends! Don’t forget to check out the #wesaytomatoes hashtag on Instagram for more recipe inspiration from a bunch of my fellow foodie friends.
And a BIG thank you to Square Meal Round Table and What Annie’s Eating for hosting this collab!
Valerie
- 4 cups chopped heirloom tomatoes
- 2 salted dug eggs, chopped
- Scallions, chopped
- For the dressing:
- ¼ cup cane vinegar
- 2 tablespoons minced shallot
- 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
- Freshly ground pepper to taste
- Place all ingredients for dressing into a bowl and whisk to combine.
- Place the heirloom tomatoes in a large serving bowl, top with the dressing and toss. Top with the egg and gently toss.
- Top with chopped scallions and serve.
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