Topic: When to add Tomatoes and/or puree in a base

[DalPuri]

Does anybody know why tomato paste isn't added at the beginning with the other ingredients?
i understand that some spices can get lose flavour from prolonged cooking, but i wouldn't of thought that of tomato puree.
Perhaps it has the opposite effect and intensifies too much?

i keep seeing and reading from various indian chefs when adding tomato or chilli, they always say to "add colour" when in theory, it must also add flavour?

Cheers, Frank. 

[emin-j]

Probably because ingredients like Tomato's/Puree  requires very little cooking compared to the firmer ingredients like Onions,Carrots,Garlic etc but I don't really know what effect it would have on the puree if you did put it in the base first stage.

[Cory Ander]

Does anybody know why tomato paste isn't added at the beginning with the other ingredients?

I think it effectively is, isn't it, DP?

Apart from the solid stuff, like emin-j says, such as onion and garlic.

It's effectively added, with the spices, to prevent the spices from burning, IMO.

[PaulP]

CA, calm down, take a deep breath then read the thread title again.

Paul

[spiceyokooko]

Does anybody know why tomato paste isn't added at the beginning with the other ingredients?

I don't know with any real certainty why, but I'm happy to give you my opinion as to why.

Tomato paste doesn't really add very much flavour to a dish over and above the sweetness obtained from caramelisation and for the colour it imparts to a dish. So you can't really cook tomato paste for any great length of time due to the risk of over-caramelising and burning it and turning the colour from a vibrant red (which seems in vogue for modern BIR dishes) to a brownish colour.

For those two reasons it needs to be cooked for a minimum amount of time before additional ingredients (base sauce eg) are added to stop the cooking process.

That's why I think you would start with your onion/garlic/ginger puree and/or chopped onions, fry those then add your tomato paste, then your spices, then your base.

It's down to being able to control the amount of time the tomato puree cooks for in my opinion.

[Cory Ander]

CA, calm down, take a deep breath then read the thread title again.

Paul

You're right, PaulP, I misread it.  And now I really don't understand the question? 

Who says that "tomato puree" isn't "added with the other ingredients"?  Which base are we referring to here (definitely not all of them)?

Most don't seem to use tomato paste (rather, most use tinned tomatoes)?

[spiceyokooko]

Who says that "tomato puree" isn't "added with the other ingredients"?  Which base are we referring to here (definitely not all of them)?

I assumed he was referring to adding tomato puree to a dish rather than to a base? Unless I've assumed incorrectly?

[DalPuri]

i Did mean the base sauce and not an individual dish. Of course, i haven't made many bases from this site, but thought that was the general method used in most bases.
start with the onions etc, then after some time(an hour or so) add tomatoes and/or puree/paste etc.

Frank.

[ELW]

some bases call for blended tinned tomatoes

[DalPuri]

Sorry ELW, i did mean and/or, just forgot to add it