Chilean Tomato Salad
Local name : Ensalada a la chilena
Ripe tomatoes and salt-soaked onion dressed with oil and coriander, the salad that opens every Chilean summer table.
Photo : Carlos Varela · CC BY 2.0
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 0 min
- Total
- 20 min
- Serves
- 4
- Difficulty
- Easy
Method
- Slice the onion into thin half moons. Cover with cold water in a bowl, add the coarse salt and soak for 15 minutes.
- Rinse the onion under running water and squeeze it dry between your hands. This step removes the bite without removing the flavour.
- Dip the tomatoes in boiling water for 30 seconds, cool them under cold water and slip off the skins.
- Cut the tomatoes into thick wedges, then halve each wedge. Lay them in a single layer on a shallow dish.
- Scatter the drained onion over the tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper, then pour over the olive oil.
- Chop the coriander and add it just before serving, along with the juices the tomatoes have released.
Chile has a name for that salted soak, cebolla desflemada. Salt draws out the sulphur compounds that sting, and the onion comes back sweet with its crunch intact.
.jpg){kind=link}