Several weeks ago I went to go and make a smashed cucumber salad from my friend Lisa and low and behold half of the cucumbers in the baby package were less than desirable. I made the executive decision to use the leftovers from a pint of tomatoes in place of some of the cucumbers and then I made it the next night, and the night after that. And then it evolved to only tomatoes. The sweetness of them with the flavor of the sesame oil and the little nibble of heat from the chili crisp oil is so so good. Visiting family a couple weeks ago I made the dish to accompany some grilled chicken and we threw in some snap peas from my brothers garden and it was like okay yes this is it. The sweetness, the snap, the perfect addition to the tomatoes. Make this while the tomatoes are fully on their programs and if you don’t enjoy tomatoes, step back to the original cucumber by following lisa’s recipe (this one is adapted to be scaled down a little bit and cut back on the chili oil because every day I get older my stomach says whoa hold up we can’t do all that.
Chili Oil, Tomato, and Snap Pea Salad
Serves honestly 2 hungry adults, maybe 4 if we’re just having some as a light side or topping
For The Dressing:
1 tablespoon soy sauce, if using low sodium make sure you test the final dish for salt, it will most likely need some
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon chili oil from a jar of chili crisp, if you want it spicier go up to 2 or 3, try to get mostly oil so the flavor carries through the salad a little better
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon sugar
For the Salad:
12 oz cherry tomatoes, halved, I think halved cherry tomatoes are cutest but feel free to use grape or campari tomatoes, just make sure you quarter the larger campari variety
About 1 1/2 cups (5ish oz.) vertically sliced sugar snap peas, strings removed
Sesame seeds to garnish
Combine all the dressing ingredients in a large bowl then add the tomatoes and snap peas, toss to combine, top with sesame seeds and serve immediately. Components can be prepped separately but if the tomatoes sit too long in the dressing the acidity plays too much and breaks down the tomatoes and makes them mealy.
