Tomato and plum salad with nori and sesame

General

• Source: Ottolenghi
• Serves: 6
• The plums are glorious with the tomatoes but, if they aren’t in season, substitute them with more tomatoes; the salad will still taste great without them.
• Toss the tomatoes and plums together with the herbs and dressing just before you’re ready to serve, so the salad doesn’t become too soggy.-

Ingredients

Tomatoes

• 800g mixed ripe tomatoes (beef, plum, tiger, green, yellow and cherry), large ones cut into 1cm-thick wedges,
• cherry tomatoes halved or quartered
• 3 ripe plums, pitted and cut into 1cm-thick wedges (250g) (or more tomatoes instead, see introduction)
• 4 spring onions, finely sliced
• 5g coriander leaves, roughly chopped
• flaked sea salt

Dressing

• 1¼ tsp fish sauce (optional)
• 2 tsp caster sugar
• 2 tbsp rice vinegar
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp groundnut oil
• 5g fresh ginger, peeled and julienned
• ½ garlic clove, crushed
• ¼ tsp finely grated orange zest

Nori and sesami salt

• ½ sheet of nori seaweed
• 1½ tbsp white or black sesame seeds, or a mixture of both, toasted
• ½ tsp chilli flakes

Procedure

1. Whisk all the ingredients for the dressing together with ½ teaspoon of flaked salt and leave to infuse while you prepare the rest of the salad.
2. Roughly break up the nori sheet, then blitz to a rough powder (a spice grinder is best for this). In a small bowl, mix the nori with the sesame seeds, chilli flakes and ½ teaspoon of flaked salt.
3. In a large bowl, toss the tomatoes together with the plums, spring onions, coriander and the dressing. Transfer to a platter, sprinkle over the nori and sesame mix, and serve