A quick, hard sear upgrades bite sized tomatoes with almost zero extra effort, plus, finally, a low-FODMAP chili crisp.
Max Tomatoes with Chili Crisp
A quick, hard sear upgrades bite-sized tomatoes with almost zero extra effort.
Ingredients
- 3 each tomatoes, large cherry, or any
- 1 Tbs Superkale Sauce, optional, easy to whip up
- 1 tsp Lao Gan Ma Hot Chili Sauce, Not the "spicy chili crisp" – see notes!
- 1 tsp Olive Oil, or any fat
- 1 pinch Flakey Salt, like Maldon, if you got it
Instructions
- Heat a well-seasoned cast iron or non-stick skillet on high with olive oil, or any preferred fat.
- Slice tomatoes in half, across their equator.
- Add tomatoes, cut side down, into hot fat and don't touch them!
- Seriously. Don't touch or move them for at least 2 whole minutes, maybe longer!
- Once the cut side is seared, gently flip tomatoes and cook for an additional 30 seconds if if desired.
- Plate and drizzle with Superkale Sauce, Hot Chili Sauce, and top with a generous pinch of flakey salt. Serve immediately.
Notes
SAUCE OPTIONAL
This recipe is really all about the little deliciously seared tomatoes with crunchy flakey salt on top. They don’t need a sauce to be good. Use whatever you have on hand, or nothing at all. They kale sauce is pretty nice with them, though.
A LOW-FODMAP CHILI CRISP EXISTS!
Everyone is obsessed with Lao Gan Ma chili crisp, and for good reason. However, the most talked version, labeled “spicy chili crisp”, contains onions. This makes it a no-go for low-FODMAP diets. But there’s another version! Miraculously “HOT CHILI SAUCE” doesn’t have any alliums in it at all. It’s mostly chilis, MSG, salt, sugar, pepper, and preservatives–but it also contains whole peanuts, a few little tofu cubes, and little fermented kohlrabi bits. How fun is that?
Two tablespoons of the sauce has 6 net carbs, so low-carb eaters can’t be super liberal with it, but a teaspoon here or there is easy to fit into your macros, low-FODMAP, and ABSOLUTELY WORTH IT. It is strangely hard to find online outside of eBay, so look for it on the shelf at any market that’s well-stocked with Chinese ingredients.
MAX TOMATOES
You can sear any size tomato this way, but my favorite are golfball-sized tomatoes. They are just the right size for a semi-cooked, semi-raw, super juicy, crispy-salty-seared burst of flavor. If you’re using smaller grape tomatoes, sear the cut side and try to remove them from the pan before they lose all their structural integrity. Bigger tomatoes can handle a brief stint on the other side as well.
I call these Max Tomatoes because my boyfriend, Max, seared tomatoes like this for me one time, and I never forgot it. The technique gives the tomatoes maximum umami and is likely to impress your date.