This robustly seasoned, almost meaty tomato salad was inspired by Mexican salsa macha, a savory-spicy condiment made with dried chilies, garlic, nuts and seeds that are fried in oil, then pureed.
In this recipe from our cookbook “ Milk Street 365: The All-Purpose Cookbook for Every Day of the Year,” we skip the blender and deconstruct the salsa, adding the ingredients directly to the salad — the fried peanuts and sesame seeds add texture that contrasts beautifully against meaty tomatoes.
For an especially colorful salad, use heirloom tomatoes of different hues. You also can combine tomato varieties and sizes for more varied texture and appearance.
Salting the tomatoes and letting them stand deepens their flavor and softens them slightly for extra succulence and juiciness. Halve any smaller tomatoes, like grape or cherry, so the salt can season the flesh.
When toasting the peanuts and sesame seeds, be sure to use a
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