Yesterday I ran across this photo of some kind of tomato dessert. The photo is by Levent Şen, one of Antalya’s most prominent photographers, and it’s a gorgeous capture of a dish I’ve never even heard of before. I have no idea if this kind of dessert is common or not around these parts— I’ve certainly never seen it on a menu. Many of the best Turkish dishes, though, are things that are normally only made at home.
The restaurant Çiya in Istanbul (which serves a lot of unusual dishes from around Anatolia) has a tomato dessert as well as a pumpkin one, a whole candied walnut one, etc. I hate tomatoes, so I've never tried that one, but the others are delicious 😉
Sweet Baked Tomatos
4 Tomatoes, large and ripe
1/2 cup currants
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
1/4 cup dried cranberries (or goldnen raisins)
2 1/2 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 1/2 cups apple juice
Directions:
1
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2
Slice tops off tomatoes and remove insides, leaving shells intact.
3
Turn shells upside down and drain on paper towels.
4
Mix together rest of ingredients except apple juice.
5
Stuff tomatoes with this mixture.
6
Put tomatoes in a deep baking dish and pour the apple juice in bottom.
7
Bake for 30 minutes.
8
Remove tomatoes with slotted spoon and chill.
9
Reduce apple juice on top of stove until it becomes syrupy, then chill.
10
Spoon sauce over tomatoes when serving.