Tomato Sauce from Tomato Paste

Most of us prefer purchasing tomato sauce from the market. It is available in various flavors and we do end up spending more amount of money than what we would have, if the same was prepared in our house. It is extremely easy to prepare and we can make it as per our taste and requirements. An additional benefit is that the sauce will be absolutely fresh and will not contain any artificial flavors.

Ingredients

• Tomato puree, (canned) 28 oz.
• Crushed tomatoes, 28 oz.
• Onion, 1
• Parsley, 1 bunch
• Salt, as per taste
• Black pepper powder, as per taste
• Olive oil, ½ cup

Method

Step 1
Chop the onion into thin slices. If you like the flavor of garlic, you can even substitute the fresh diced garlic for onion. You can also use a mixture of both.

Step 2
Chop around ¾ cup of parsley. If you do not get regular parsley, Italian parsley can be used.

Step 3
Take a saucepan, pour ½ cup of olive oil and then heat it on a medium flame. Sauté the onions in oil till they are slightly brown in color and tender in texture. Take care that onions do not get over cooked.

Step 4
After the onion is cooked, add the tomato puree and crushed tomatoes. Stir well. The mixture of onion and the tomato puree may splatter. To prevent that, add some water to the mixture. It will stop the splatter, as well as dilute the sauce.

Step 5
Since we are using fresh tomatoes, (along with tomato puree), you will need to cook this sauce for 5 minutes on medium heat. Sprinkle salt and pepper according to the quantity of the mixture and your taste. Let it cook on simmer for around 30 minutes. Your sauce is ready.

For tomato paste recipe, replace the puree with tomato paste. But then, the amount of paste will be lesser than puree, as paste is thicker and has a stronger flavor, as compared to puree.

Tomato juice is a thinner version of tomato paste and the only difference is that, it is made from squeezing the tomatoes. Initially, it was also used as a substitute for orange juice. You will have to follow the above mentioned procedure. The quantity required though, would be more than puree or paste, as its consistency and texture is thinner than either tomato puree or tomato paste.

You can prepare fresh tomato sauce by using the above mentioned recipes. This sauce can be used for direct consumption or used as a base for preparing various stocks and soups.