Tomato Kimchi for the Summer! ?
Long time no see! I’m finally back from a long trip to Italy with my mom. ❤️ We had the most fun, amazing time in Italy, so glad I took the time to take her on her dream trip. I’m so grateful for my mom being healthy and energetic so we would travel together! 🙂 We went to Panzano, Firenze, and Roma, and it was SO HOT!! ?
Honestly, I’ve never been a huge fan of tomatoes until this Italy trip. I mean, I enjoy eating tomatoes, but it was just never my favorite fruit/vegetable. ??♀️ We went to many restaurants in Italy, but plant-based menus were very limited. One of my favorite thing to order at restaurants is tomato bruschetta. Until I had tomatoes in Italy, I never knew how sweet and delicious a tomato could be. It was mind-blowing. This experience proved once again my food philosophy- If you don’t like something, you didn’t have it the right way. Now, I LOVE tomatoes. ?
BTW, did you know I published a cookbook?! ? ? ?
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Alrighty, let’s go back to the tomato kimchi!
Luckily, it’s summer time which is tomato season. It’s very important to eat seasonal food to get the right nutrition our body needs each season. Tomato is packed with vitamin C and potassium, and they help protect our cells from damage. I will be sharing many different tomato recipes this summer with you, so I hope my recipes can help you eat more healthy and seasonal fruits and veggies! To start, nothing is more perfect than the Korean Tomato Kimchi recipe! Let’s get started!
Chop 5 cloves of garlic, 1 oz of ginger (you can grate on a cheese grater too), slice 1/2 onion, and cut chive into 1/2″ long.
You can use any chive you can find – Korean chive, garlic chive, or regular chive. If you can’t find a chive, you can use green onions instead.
I’m very proud to say that the chive is from my garden! 🙂 Hopefully, one day, I can grow tomatoes in my garden, too – for some reason, tomatoes don’t do great on my farm… ? Wish me luck!
Now, we are going to add the seasonings for tomato kimchi. If you are not plant-based, you can use fish sauce. I like to use Yondu or plant-based fish sauce. My favorite brand of plant-based fish sauce is this Vietnamese brand, a pineapple-made one. It is the BEST! Today, I decided to use plant-based fish sauce. 🙂
Combine the garlic, onion, and chive in a large mixing bowl. Add 4 tbsp plant-based fish sauce (or Yondu), gochugaru, raw sugar, and maesilaek in a large mixing bowl.
Maesilaek is Korean green plum extract, and it’s easy to find online or at your local Korean grocery store. It also can be substituted with apple juice, pear juice, or grated apple or pear.
There are two ways to make tomato kimchi. So it’s up to you how you make it. The first one is the “Sobaggi” style. It’s like cucumber kimchi (Oi Sobaggi), which gives 2 slits on a tomato like a cross with 1/2” attached on another end and fills it up with the kimchi sauce mix. This is super cute and makes beautiful kimchi, but honestly, you need to use your hands or a knife to eat this style of tomato kimchi.
The one I usually make is sliced style because it’s easier to make & easier to eat too!
Slice each tomato into eight wedges and add to the bowl with the kimchi sauce mixture. Mix well with your hand or a spoon, and finally sprinkle with some sesame seeds. So easy, right?!
Tomato kimchi can be served immediately or the next day. It will last a week in the refrigerator.
You can serve tomato kimchi as a side dish with any type of meal you prepare! Or make it a bit less salty to eat as a salad. 🙂 It will be great with ice-cold beer or soju! Enjoy! 
Tomato Kimchi Recipe for Summer
Description
This recipe is perfect for summertime! With all seasonal ingredients, you have a delicious summer on a plate.
Ingredients
Instructions
- Combine the garlic, onion, chive, plant-based fish sauce, gochugaru, raw sugar, and maesilaek in a large mixing bowl.
- Slice each tomato into eight wedges and add to the bowl. Mix well with your hand or a spoon, and finally sprinkle with sesame seeds. It can be served immediately or the next day. It will last a week in the refrigerator.
Notes
*You can use any chive you can find – Korean chive, garlic chive, or regular chive. If you can’t find a chive, you can use green onions instead.
*Maesilaek can be substituted with apple juice, pear juice, or grated apple or pear.
8 comments
Seonkyoung good morning, I’m Italian (forgive me for the translated English), I’ve been following you for over a year and maybe more, I’m happy that you have chosen my country for your recent holidays, in fact, our tomato really tastes sweet and intense.
I am a kitchen chef and I love Korean cuisine as you can imagine, I prepare different vegetables and fermented drinks and I love the kimchi that I have been preparing for some years, its recipes give me interesting ideas I follow it with pleasure.
Massimo
Buongiorno Massimo!! Miss Italian tomatoes and wine!!!
How much fish sauce to use for this recipe? 4 tbsp? 4 tsp?
4 tbsp… now I see that in the description (but it’s still missing in the recipe).
4 tbsp 🙂
Delicious!
Hi. Thx for the recipe. I thought kimchi had to ferment? I don’t see that in the recipe. Is there a version where there is fermentation?. I’m interested in the health benefit.. thank you
Hi Susan! Not all kimchi has to ferment. 🙂
This recipe has lots of healthy benefit of eating fresh vegetables and vitamins. But if you want the ferment this reicpe, add 1 tbsp rice porridge or flour porridge. Place in a air tight container and ferment in the kitchen counter for a day then place in the fridge. Hope this helps!