My first summer in Beijing I lived in the thriving and local community of Liudaokou. At night, the restaurants spilled onto the pavements, waiters setting up fold-out formica tables and stools for a ravenous and rowdy crowd. There were streets that served nothing but barbecue and beer, which suited Beijngers, and me, just fine.

Occasionally a cold vegetable dish might land down on a table - shredded potato, smashed cucumber or boiled edamame beans - to help cut through the fatty lamb. One evening I spotted a tray on an adjacent table: slices of ripe tomatoes with a pile of white sugar. Was it a dessert, a side dish or an accident, I wondered. The answer is a very deliberate Sugar-Dressed Tomato (糖拌西红柿) dish, that seems to be fading from menus nowadays.

Sugar-Dressed Tomatoes was a popular dish in the 80s and 90s in Beijing, served as a summertime treat. Although wealth was growing, the supermarket trend of importing out-of-season veg was still rare. Instead, markets stocked local and seasonal produce. Access to tomatoes in the North was limited to the hotter months, but was an affordable dish with a flare of luxury.

The varieties of twenty years ago were likely more sour than today, and so a juicy fresh tomato, seasoned with a touch of salt and and sprinkle of sugar, then chilled, was the perfect combination of tart and sweet, perfectly refreshing in the city heat.

It sounds completely over the top to put sugar onto a tomato, but it really does work. It brings out the natural sweetness and tastes remarkably similar to a succulent watermelon. After tomatoes were introduced to China from the Portuguese traders, they were appreciated for their sweet and sharp flavour profile, often treated more like other fruit, eaten raw or treated gently, rather than added to savoury dishes (although today there are a fair few cooked tomato dishes in China too).

Younger generations of China might see this dish as a bit old-fashioned, but for those that grew up with it, it’s fondly remembered.

Serves 2