Fresh garden tomatoes sprinkled with olive oil, rice vinegar, and soy sauce.
This is more of an idea than a recipe.
I had never thought to dress tomatoes with soy sauce until I came across a simple tomato wedges with soy sauce recipe in my friend Nancy Hachisu’s Japanese Farm Food
cookbook. It’s so easy and good!
Tomatoes love salt, and they really love the flavorful saltiness of soy sauce. Nancy’s recipe uses rapeseed (canola) oil and shiso leaves. The salad works just as well with olive oil and sliced basil, which is what I’ve used here.
Here’s a tip for working with fresh raw tomatoes. Don’t refrigerate them!
The cold temperatures of the refrigerator will make your tomatoes mealy, and will adversely affect their flavor. If you pick a garden tomato and it isn’t quite ripe, just let it sit on a counter for a few days. It will ripen on its own.
Tomato Salad with Soy Sauce Recipe
- Prep time: 4 minutes
Make sure the soy sauce you are using truly is made from soy. Much of what is labeled soy sauce in America is just flavored water, not true soy sauce, which is made from fermented soybeans. Check the label to make sure you are getting the real deal!
There are no measurements in this recipe. Just sprinkle the ingredients over the cut tomatoes and adjust to your liking.
Ingredients
- Fresh garden tomatoes
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Seasoned rice vinegar
- Soy sauce or tamari (use gluten-free soy sauce if avoiding gluten)
- Kosher salt or fleur de sel or other finishing salt
- Thinly sliced basil for garnish
Method
1 Core the tomatoes and cut them into wedges. Arrange on a serving plate.
2 Lightly drizzle olive oil over the tomatoes. Sprinkle with seasoned rice vinegar. Sprinkle well with soy sauce. Sprinkle with salt. Toss a few thinly sliced basil leaves over the tomatoes.
Serve at room temperature.
