Pickled raw tomatoes (atjar tomat mentah)
I’m looking for a fresh Indonesian salad. Something a little spicy and fresh. This raw tomato salad or atjar tomat mentah from Beb Vuyk’s recipe book sounds good. The sambal, sweet soy sauce and especially the chives sounds like a delicious combination. Let’s get started.
Pickled raw tomatoes (acar tomat mentah) #429 translated from Beb Vuyk Groot Indonesisch Kookboek, page 346.
Ingredients
- 500 grams of medium sized tomatoes (firm)
- 1 tablespoon of chopped chives
- the juice of 1 lemon
Herbs and spices
- 1 tablespoon of chopped onions
- 1 chopped garlic clove
- 1/2 teaspoon of sambal ulek (chili salsa)
- 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
- pepper
- salt
- Cut the tomatoes into slices and arrange on a plate.
- Sprinkle pepper, a little salt and the chives on top.
- Rub onions and garlic together with the sambal (chili salsa).
- Add the soy sauce and the lemon juice.
- Pour this sauce over the tomatoes.
This relish can be kept for only 1 to 2 days.
I keep frozen chili sauce in my freezer. I freeze my sambal ulek in ice cube molds. Handy if you need fresh chili salsa quick. The amount in the photo is too much for this recipe. I use half the block.
The tomatoes can go into slices now and I sprinkle the chives over it. I also add a teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of grounded pepper.
Now I rub the onions and garlic together with the sambal (which I have popped in the microwave for a few seconds). When my onions and garlic are fine I add the soy sauce (I use sweet soy sauce -kecap manis) and the lemon juice.
And now the easiest part: pour the sauce over the tomatoes. It is that easy. I leave my pickled tomatoes for at least 30 minutes on my counter before serving. It needs some time to suck up all the acids and flavors. Enak!
I think the chives add something special to the flavor. After a day (I keep what was leftover from dinner in a bowl in the refrigerator) the flavor of the chives is different. The chives taste almost sweet. I really love this fresh salad. It’s healthy and easy. I do not regularly eat my tomatoes like this. Beb indicates that these pickled tomatoes can not be kept for a long time – about a day or two. But that’s fine with me. We finish it easily in two days.
