Homemade tomato puree is what you are going to learn to make today. Tomato pure or tomato blend is a thick, red paste or concentrate made from blended tomato pulp that has been cooked. This puree is can be used for Nigerian party jollof rice, tomato soup, tomato sauce, tomato stew, egg sauce and for any recipe that calls for tomato puree.
I’ve been looking for a better and a faster way to make my tomato blend for stew and after trying out different methods I concluded one of the methods which I thought I should share with my readers. Our regular tomato stew requires you blending a lot of tomatoes, peppers with a little water before boiling it for the water to dry up. After this is done, the tomato blend needs to be fried to kill the sour taste which what we always tried to avoid when making stew. This is usually a tedious process especially if you want to prepare a quick stew for the family.
I noticed that when you blend the tomato first before boiling it, much water is retained and you know naturally, tomatoes have a lot of water in the flesh, plus the water you are going to add to the aid the spinning process of the blender. This method often takes a little bit longer for the tomato to boil for the water to evaporate completely.
However, I came up with another method of preparing your tomato or blending your tomatoes for stew, this particular method is simple and it doesn’t take much time and water is not needed at all and at the end of it all you will be left with a more flavourful and rich tomato puree. This is one of the quickest way to remove excess water from your tomatoes and also to get rid of the sour taste. This easy tomato puree can be used for stew, sauce or any recipe that calls for tomato puree. Now, you have to follow the steps one by one to get this thick tomato blend you are seeing above. You may also want to check out the video for easy explanation.
Table of Contents
Ingredients to make tomato puree
- 1kg of red tomatoes
- 5 red bell peppers (tatashe)
- 2 medium onions
- 3 scotch bonnets (ata rodo)
- 1 medium ginger
- 3 cloves of garlic
- Blender
- And a pot
I used enough tomatoes for this, this depends on the amount of stew you want to make
Steps on how to make tomato puree
- To make tomato pure or tomato blend rinse tomato with the peppers severally in clean water.
- Combine tomato peppers, ginger, garlic and onions into a medium pot, without adding water place a lid over it and place on heat.
- Cook these for 5minutes, the tomatoes will begin to lose a lot of water and turn out very soft.
- Cook for another 3 to 5 minutes once they are completely soft, drain out the liquid with a colander and leave to cool.
- Transfer the tomato, onion, ginger, garlic into a blender and blend without water being added until very smooth and nice.
- Pour the tomato puree into a sealable bowl and store in the fridge until needed or use it immediately for your favorite stew recipe such as jollof rice.
How to make tomato puree or tomato blend with pictures
1. To make tomato pure or tomato blend rinse tomato with the peppers severally in clean water.
2. Combine tomato peppers, ginger, garlic and onions into a medium pot, without adding water place a lid over it and place on heat.
You don’t need water to boil this, the tomatoes will bring out the water from the body
3. Cook these for 5 minutes, the tomatoes will begin to lose a lot of water and turn out very soft.
4. Cook for another 3 to 5 minutes once they are completely soft, drain out the liquid with a colander and leave to cool.
I’m sure you can notice the excess water that came out of this after it has been boiled
5. Transfer the tomato, onion, ginger, garlic into a blender and blend without water being added until very smooth and nice.
I still blended this without water
6. Pour the tomato puree into a sealable bowl and store in the fridge until needed or use it immediately for your favorite stew recipe such as jollof rice.
Here you have your thick and flavorful tomato puree with less water
Tomato puree/ tomato blend, this was so easy to make