Mouthwatering Japanese-style Pickled Tomatoes pack layers of umami in every bite. Dashi stock and soy sauce infuse the vinegar marinade for soaking ripe and juicy tomatoes. Savor these chilled tomatoes as a refreshing side dish or appetizer!
Before the summer ends, I wanted to share one more recipe – Japanese-style Pickled Tomatoes (トマトの酢漬け). I was inspired to make this recipe after watching the popular Japanese TV drama – Kodoku no Gurume (孤独のグルメ) [Season 6, Episode 2]. The protagonist had the pickled tomatoes as a part of Pan Fried Ginger Pork Belly lunch meal set. It looked really refreshing and I had to come up with something similar.
For those of you who are not familiar with Kodoku no Gurume, the main character Gorō is a Japanese salaryman who is in sales. As a salesman, Gorō travels across Japan for his work and on each business trip he visits various restaurants and street booths to sample the local cuisine. Each chapter features a different place and dish.
This TV drama has been around for years in Japan, and currently, Season 7 is on air. Unfortunately, it is not available on Netflix like Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories here in the States, but it’s available on Netflix Japan and other sources. Maybe Netflix USA will pick it up if there’s enough interest for the drama.
Whether you have access to Kodoku no Gurume or not, I want to share all the delicious foods the main character Goro-san enjoyed in the show and I hope you would join me in cooking up these dishes.
Japanese-Styled Pickled Tomatoes
In Japanese, when whole tomatoes are marinated in vinegar, they are called Tomato no Suzuke (トマトの酢漬け). But what makes it “Japanese-style”? Here are the two things that distinguish Japanese Pickled Tomatoes from other kinds of pickled tomatoes you may be familiar with:
1. The use of dashi and soy sauce
Oftentimes, the vinegar marinade for Japanese pickled tomatoes is not just vinegar, but it also includes soy sauce and dashi – Japanese stock/broth. If you want to make this vegetarian/vegan, you can use Vegan Dashi; otherwise, you can make it with the most common Awase Dashi made with both kombu and katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes).
2. The tomatoes are pickled without the skins
For this recipe, tomato skins for the Pickled Tomatoes are usually peeled off. When you bite into tomatoes, the texture is considered better without the skin on. It’s up to you if you want to do this extra step, but maybe give both choices a try and let me know if you like the skins peeled or not peeled.
The Easiest Way to Peel Off the Tomato Skins
There are several ways to peel off the tomato skins: blanch, scorch, microwave, or freeze the tomatoes. Among them, I think the easiest and safest method is blanching.
You would prepare a pot of boiling water. Gently submerge the tomato(es) in the boiling water for 10-15 seconds turning once. Then immediately transfer to the iced water. Then the skin will be peeled off easily.
If you have picked up some juicy, fresh red tomatoes from your garden or the farmers market, the Japanese-style Pickled Tomatoes is definitely a fun and unique way to put them to good use.
JOC Kodoku no Gurume Recipes Series
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Pickled Tomatoes
Ingredients
- 2 tomatoes
For the Marinade
- ½ cup dashi (Japanese soup stock) (use standard Awase Dashi, dashi packet or powder, or Vegan Dashi)
- 1 cup rice vinegar (unseasoned)
- 4 Tbsp sugar
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce (for gluten-free, use GF soy sauce)
- 2 tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
For the Garnish
- ½ onion (optional)
- parsley (optional)
Instructions
- Before You Start…Please note that this recipe requires 3 hours of chilling time.Gather all the ingredients. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
- Prepare a large jar or container that can fit your tomatoes. Combine all the ingredients for the marinade: ½ cup dashi (Japanese soup stock), 1 cup rice vinegar (unseasoned), 4 Tbsp sugar, 1 Tbsp soy sauce, and 2 tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt.
- Using a knife, score an X in the skin on the bottom of 2 tomatoes. Place them gently into the boiling water.
- Blanch the tomatoes for 10–15 seconds, flipping them once halfway through. Transfer the tomatoes from the pot to a cutting board.
- You can dunk them in cold water for 10 seconds to cool or leave them on the cutting board until they‘re cool enough to handle. Then, gently peel off the skin using your fingers. Discard the skin.
- Place the tomatoes in the marinade. Cover and keep in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours until completely chilled or up to 3–5 days.
To Serve
- When you‘re ready to serve, mince ½ onion (optional) for garnish. You will need 2–3 Tbsp minced onion per tomato.
- Soak the minced onion in a bowl of water to remove the bitterness. Squeeze out the water and they are ready to use.
- Cut the tomatoes into ½-inch (1.3-cm) slices. Garnish with the minced onion and parsley (optional).
Hi Namiko, can the marinade be reused to pickle more tomatoes or a salad dressing? Also, any risk of spoiling if I use less than the recommended amount of vinegar (it’s rather expensive)?
Hi Jay! Thank you so much for reading Nami’s post and trying her recipe!
This recipe calls for Dashi, which is a water-based ingredient. As a result, we recommend using it up within 5 days.
As for reducing the amount of vinegar, you can do so by shortening the marinade time. However, the flavor will differ from the original recipe.
We hope this helps!
Hi Namiko,
What do I do with the pickled juice? Any recommendations?
Hi Vy N, Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe!
You can use it as a Dressing over sliced cucumber or add it to an egg and make an easy scrambled egg etc.🙂
We hope this helps!
Hi Namiko, can I use Sushi Vinegar instead of rice vinegar for all your recipes which uses rice vinegar?
Hi Rayna, Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe!
Sushi Vinegar contains sugar, salt, etc. If you use them as a substitute for Rice vinegar, please adjust the salt and sugar amount for your liking.
Hi Nami,
Recently I have joined your newsletter.
I have started with these excellent pickled tomatoes.
There are incredible delicious.
Many many thanks!!
With love from Spain
Hi Amaro,
Thank you so much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback. We’re glad to hear you enjoyed the dish!
Thank you for supporting us from Spain!💕
I made it without the dashi yesterday and had some for lunch today. Really nice! I’d probably reuse the leftover pickle juice by boiling it and adding more salt and sugar for the next batch.
Hi NiYan! Thanks for trying this recipe! Happy to hear you enjoyed it!
Would this recipe work with cherry tomatoes?
Or maybe you have suggestions how to use cherry tomatoes? We harvested tons of them from our garden.
Hi Liza! It does, but it’s just more work with peeling the skin – same method. 🙂
Nami-san – – the “Midnight Diner” adaptation of the chicke wings were a HUGE hit Oh, my goodness it was so crispy and tasty – – I love that you slit the cut inbetween the wing bones. It is going to be a regular for gatherings as well as for my own indulgence! Arigato! Jane (Fareshare1)
BTW – I am going to try this tomato recipe today!
Hi Jane! Thank you for your kind feedback. I’m so glad you liked the chicken wing recipe! I won’t get credit for the slit as the Master in the drama did it so I followed exactly. It’s a pretty standard technique when you deep fry bone-in chicken, but I tried to follow what the Master did in the show. 🙂 Hope you enjoyed the Pickled Tomato recipe!
This might be a weird question, but is there anything I can use instead of dashi? I’m afraid if I use dashi these pickles will become a bit too expensive for me. Do you think it will be tasty if I use vegetable stock, soy sauce and rice vinegar only?
And is it possible to keep the tomatoes for longer than a few days?
Hi Madelon! If you use vegetable stock, make sure to dilute the stock as we don’t want to overpower it. When water is included, it’s hard to keep it for a longer time. For storage purposes, it’s best to omit it.
Hi!
So those can be kept only for 2 to 5 days?
I was hoping to do a big batch for family and friend but this might be a bad idea since it seems they can’t be conserved for long?
Hi Marie-Michelle! It’s due to dashi which is made of water. If the marinade is pure vinegar, it would last longer, like pickles… but this is dashi-infused, and water goes bad. That’s why…
I understand!
Thanks Nami!
I will do a small batch and keep it all to myself then 🙂
Nami thank you so much for this information! I have been curious about it since you served it in your video. I’m going to make with cherry tomatoes which are so good right now, but they will be difficult to peel! THANK YOU!
Hi Chris! Thank you for waiting! 🙂 Hope you enjoy this recipe! Make sure not to skip scoring, it’ll be easier to peel… I hope! 😀
Oooh, I can’t wait to try this recipe! I’ve seen pics of this tomato dish and thought it was quite interesting, but didn’t know how it was prepared! Thanks Nami!
Hi Lisa! Hope you enjoy this recipe! 🙂 It’s pretty to look at, but quite refreshing too!
I appreciate learning about Japanese culture and food. My son hopes to go to Japan to teach English and has been involved with Japanese cultural events here in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. I grew up in the Canadian arctic with the Inuit and eat their traditional food and know a lot about their culture. I only use gmail and Facebook so I’d appreciate being able to email recipes to friends and also to myself. I don’t have a printer hooked up to my laptop so I email things I want printed to my son and he prints them for me. A lot of other sites have an email option and I use it regularly. I enjoy your emails and videos – please keep up the great recipes and information!
Yes, please! I agree – I don’t use any of the other options, but I would appreciate an option to email your recipes to myself or to my son, who lives in Kyoto and does most of the cooking. Thank you for considering it. I enjoy your site.
Hi Susan! Your son lives in Kyoto! How nice to live in such a beautiful city (but I hope he was okay with all the recent rain…).
I have contacted my recipe plugin developer. He wants to know a good example some recipe websites have. Could you please let me know if you know one? He needs to see how he can create the email option. Thank you in advance!
Hi Regina! How wonderful your son is planning to teach English in Japan. I’m thankful for all the foreign teachers who taught me in Japan.
It was much more fun class than my Japanese English teacher. LOL.
Really great feedback, and I have contacted my recipe plugin developer. He wants to know a good example some recipe websites have. Could you please let me know if you know one? He needs to see how he can create the email option. Thank you in advance!
I watched the Kodoku no Gurume series on GoodDrama.net and they have lots of English subtitled Asian dramas and movies. It’s a little sketchy of a website, but I put up with it because it’s free and they have a wide variety of dramas. I find it amazing and funny how much Goro eats in one sitting (especially because they don’t eat tons of food at one meal in Japan), but that may be what makes the series popular too. I’ll try out this recipe with a friend who really likes tomatoes.
Hi Roy! I was not sure if I can mention about or recommend those (illegal?) websites in the post (just to be safe) so thanks for mentioning here. I heard he doesn’t eat anything before filming because he had to eat so much! Crazy. The show is very simple… we just watch him eat and eat! Hope you and your friend enjoys this recipe!