Yogurt works especially well in recipes like biryanis, or thick curries and masalas that require tomatoes. Just make sure you whisk the yogurt really well and add it towards the end of the cooking process to reduce chances of it splitting. It provides body to the curry and the right kind of tartness – so you won’t be missing tomatoes too much. Yogurt also comes in handy when preparing Indian style curries which have a tomato base. You can also buy a batch of fresh tamarind and dissolve a lemon sized ball in warm water and use the extract to give your recipes a delicious tomato-y taste with actually using them. Just add a hint of it to tamarind pulp or paste to recipes like dals, curries or stir fries instead of tomatoes. Tamarind is one of the ingredients which come closest to replicating the fresh sweet-tanginess of tomatoes. Keep tasting and adjusting the ratios depending upon what your recipe demands.īesides adding body, tomatoes lend a delicious tartness to a variety of recipes, especially in Indian cuisine. If you need to adjust the consistency of the puree bring it to a boil and let it reduce till it is perfect for your recipe. A hint of tomato ketchup can also give it that bright red colour, but will make it sweeter than regular fresh tomato puree. To deepen the hue (and nutrition) of your pseudo tomato puree add a roasted/raw red bell pepper, a piece of boiled beetroot, boiled carrots or all three to it. Add in a dash of vinegar to replicate the tartness of tomatoes. Just blend the pumpkins maybe roast them before that for some more depth of flavor and a deeper colour. At literally half the price and their slightly sweet taste and creamy texture, pumpkins make the best low cost substitute for tomatoes, especially in the puree form. Why you need sugarīecause tomato paste is sour! Why I’m sharing it now – even though the Sydney lockdown finished months agoīecause sadly, our friends in Victoria have entered into Pandemic Lockdown 2.0 as a result of which people are stocking up, making some popular ingredients like canned tomato difficult to obtain.Īnd a reader specifically asked in my “ Pandemic Cooking Hotline” how to use tomato paste in place of canned tomato – so I’m sharing my recipe.Tomatoes are an indispensible ingredient in many of our recipes and are used generously, but with the prices of tomatoes in India reaching a staggering Rs 100/ kg and expected to remain so at least till mid-august, we could do with some substitutes for this favourite.Īfter years of snubbing kaddu at the dining table, the current prices of tomatoes are going to make you love them. So in order to “make” canned tomato using tomato paste, you need to loosen it with water, but then thicken it with flour. It’s thick enough and tomatoey enough, but it’s way too sour. It’s too thin and the flavour is too weak or And though one might assume you can just use a big dollop of tomato paste + water in the place of a can of tomato, you can’t. Tomato paste is thicker and more sour than canned tomato. Cook it just like it’s normal canned tomato! Bolognese sauce Just some background info – for those interested! Why it isn’t just water + tomato paste Add it at the time the recipe calls for the canned tomato to be added. Use in recipes that call for any canned tomato – diced, crushed – OR tomato passata. This makes 400 grams (14 oz) which equates to 1 standard can of tomato.Īnd it tastes just like using canned tomato! It will be watery when “raw” but once added into a dish like Bolognese, it thickens as it cooks (it only takes 3 minutes to thicken). Mix 4 tablespoons of tomato paste with 1 1/2 cups of water, 1 1/2 tablespoons flour and 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar. How to substitute tomato paste for canned tomato To substitute tomato paste for canned tomato, you need to cook it with water and flour to achieve the same consistency and flavour. While canned tomato was one such item that was always sold out, tomato paste was still widely available.īecause canned tomato is a key ingredient in so many recipes, from Bolognese to soups, pasta bakes to stews, pies to curries, I decided to come up with a way to substitute tomato paste for canned tomatoes. Things like pasta, dried beans, rice and all manner of canned goods. When the COVID Pandemic first hit the shores of Australia and Sydney went into lockdown in March 2020, grocery store shelves were cleared of long shelf life items with a rush of panic buying. It’s a recipe I created during the COVID pandemic lockdown here in Sydney, Australia, during which supermarket shelves were emptied of canned foods including canned tomato (crushed, diced etc).īackground – COVID and the canned tomato shortage This is a recipe for how to use tomato paste as a replacement for canned tomato.
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