Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Chinese Sweet Tomatoes

This last week has been very busy in our house. For the first time, ever, we are hosting an exchange student from China. Our student's american name is Julia. She is 15 and is just a wonderful girl. We are enjoying ourselves. My friend was in charge of picking the students to go with each family, and since she knew me well, hand picked this girl for me because her English was fluent and because she loved to cook. My friend thought, if nothing else, we could help each other in the culinary world. Julia is very kind, patient and sweet. She is not only blending into our family well, she is helping in the kitchen trying to soak up as much American cooking she can. I am working on a bunch of recipes for her to take home with her...I'm hoping to put them in a nice recipe book and giving them as a gift before she goes.

Yesterday, when I picked Julia up from her class, she asked if she could make us a traditional Chinese dessert for after dinner. Of course, I jumped at the chance to do so. Then she said "We need to go to the supermarket and get tomatoes". Did I hear her right??? Did she say "tomatoes" and "dessert" in the same sentence? No...she must have meant apples, I thought I would help her when we got to the store.

Well, I had heard her right, she said "Tomatoes". She proceded to buy 2 lbs of nice vine ripe tomatoes. Inside, I was thinking "oh...you will need to be polite and eat this dessert and smile". I also was worried how the children would react to tomatoes as a dessert.

She cut the tomatoes in wedges. She put sugar over top, mixed well and refridgerated.

Meanwhile, I showed her how to make Spaghetti with Meat sauce. We ate our dinner and out came dessert afterwards.

I was surprised just how great this tasted. It had the consistency and sweetness of watermelon with just enough of the tang left from the tomato. Julia told us that it is a popular dessert in the summer because it is cool and refreshing. I whole-heartedly agree and quickly wrote down the recipe so that I never forget.

I would have liked to post a picture as well, but, we ate almost all of them! :D Even my kids loved it. My son asked me to make sure to make them again soon!

So...

Chinese Sweet Tomatoes

2 lbs Vine Ripe Tomatoes, cut into wedges
3 Heaping Tbs white sugar

Mix tomatoes and sugar together well in a bowl. Cover and place in the refrigerator for 2 to 4 hours prior to serving.

ENJOY and pretend you are in Cheng-du! :D

7 comments:

Mrs. G.F. said...

Oh my goodness. You lucky woman. Have her teach you how to make a moon cake. I have no idea how to but I remember reading about it in stories when I was little, and I think they use rice flour. And dumplings..can she make those gluten free.

(I miss Chinese food something fierce..can you tell?)

In the unselfish vein now..that sounds like an awesome experience. Very very cool.


And tomatoes and sugar? For real? never, never heard of it.

Sheri said...

My mother put sugar on my tomatoes when I was a kid, in order to get me to eat them. Now I am wondering where she picked up that idea!

Adopted Son said...

mmm...very good.

chililime said...

Hey, I have added you to my new site. Love yours, looking good.

Anne Coleman said...

AWESOME! Both about the exchange student, AND the tomatoes. We were just having a discussion about how tomatoes seem to be absent from oriental cooking, and then, this!

My prof. spent 6 months in China learning about their cuisine and he said it was one of the best experiences he's ever had--I can bet!

Sea said...

Having an exchange student sounds so fun! I'll have to try those sweet tomatoes with my home grown tomatoes!
-sea

Karen said...

Wow! I never thought to have tomoatoes for dessert! I'll have to pick up some fresh ones from the local Amish market and give it a try. Have fun with Julia- she sounds like a sweet girl!

Karen
http://glutenfreefoodreviews.com