Tomatoes with Li Hing Mui Vinaigrette

from Alan Wong's restaurant in Honolulu

via Sue Gilbert

preparation time: 25 minutes

serves 10

1 whole egg

2 tablespoons umi paste (pickled plum purée)

2 tablespoons li hing mui powder (salty, dried plum powder)

¼ cup rice wine vinegar

1 cup canola oil

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

10 sliced tomatoes (vine ripened, early girl tomatoes preferred), one tomato per person

2 English cucumberes

Salt to taste

To make vinaigrette: Place egg, umi paste, li hing mui powder, and rice wine vinegar in a bowl. Using an immersion blender or whisk, slowly add the oil in a steady stream to create and emulsion. Add the lemon juice.

Drop each tomato into boiling water for 10 seconds, let cool, and peel it. Cut crosswise into three slices, keeping them stacked together. Slice the cucumber into thin slices. Place the tomato on a plate and arrange the cucumber slices around it. Pour vinaigrette around the arrangement. Sprinkle with salt.

I think this is worth the effort to find the ingredients either in an Asian foods store or online (such as Amazon.com, where I found them). We go to the restaurant just for the tomatoes.