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Slow Roasted Tomato

Food, Sides, Vegan Sinmi

Yes, I know that Labor Day has gone by and the world seems to be abandoning summer for fall. But, now is the perfect time to make this slow-roasted tomato. At the end of summer, tomatoes reach their peak sweetness. The vines become heavy, the store shelves become full of vibrant tomatoes and the prices go down. So, now is the best time to buy a bunch of tomatoes and slow-roast them for the fall at least.

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nigerian jollof rice on a white plate

Mama Sunday’s Jollof Rice

Cooking, Food, Sides Sinmi

I arrived at my godson’s mother’s hospital bedside carrying a bucket of steaming hot jollof rice, a few hours after he was born. Along with the fragrant rice, I made fried chicken and dodo (aka fried sweet plantain). In my Iro and Buba, made out of ankara fabric, I was there to welcome this child into his heritage as a Nigerian boy. He might have been born in America but as his godmother, I intend to keep him connected to his roots. One of the best things about being a Nigerian person is our connection to our foods. Jollof rice, with its long traveling roots, is certainly part of the Nigerian heritage.

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mango salad with tomato and avocado served on white quinoa in a white plate

Mango Salad With Tomato and Avocado

Cooking, Food, Salad Sinmi

This mango salad with tomato and avocado is one that I have tested time and time again. I am always tweaking my recipes. Sometimes by the time I am happy with them, the season has passed and I am left wondering why I have nothing to write. This mango salad came to life last summer because I just needed something different to eat. I have been tweaking and eating this so long, I am confident that you will love it. It is the best balance of sweet, savory, and umami.

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Drizzling oil on a platter of peach tomato salad with feta crouton

Peach Week: Peach Tomato Salad with Feta Crouton

Food, Salad Sinmi

Yes, it is Peach week on this blog. Also, yes, I am posting about a salad with a recipe for feta crouton because a peach tomato salad is simple. Some peach slices with tomato slices on arugula are all I have on the plate. So humor me. This combination of the Peach Tomato Salad with Feta Crouton blew my mind away. So here we are!

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Baked potato on white plate served with tomato eggplant sauce

From the Yoruba Kitchen…

Cooking, Food, Sauces Sinmi
Tomato Eggplant Sauce in a black cast iron pan.

As a child, living in Lagos Nigeria, I was more familiar with garden eggs than I was eggplant. Sometimes, tomato sauces were made with the garden eggs. I never liked the tomato garden egg sauce. Something about the text just put me off. Many years later in adulthood, this same sauce is the inspiration behind this tomato eggplant sauce.

As with many vegetables that I eat, my relationship with eggplant was frosty to begin. I am not sure when I became a fan of eggplant but here we are. Suddenly, grilled eggplants have become a signature item of my kitchen. The other way I love my eggplant is in this versatile Tomato Eggplant Sauce.

This sauce is perhaps the most Nigerian recipe I have shared so far. It features the classic trifecta of a Yoruba woman’s kitchen; onion, tomato and red pepper. I should add that Yoruba people love spicy food so there is fourth item, habanero, that is used in the traditional blend. Every Yoruba woman, and many Nigerian women, have their preferred ratio for these vegetables. Some like a sweeter mix and others prefer a spicier or more pungent mix. Sometimes, the tomato pepper mix also changes with the dish being prepared.

Baked potato topped with tomato eggplant sauce, basil, and cheese on a white plate

Growing up, the tomato pepper mix I have used in this Tomato Eggplant sauce was always available in the freezer. On Sundays, a fresh tomato pepper blend would be made, boiled down to get rid of the moisture and then stored in the freezer. This blend was then used during the week to make stews, egg sauces, beans, and other items. It was the backbone of many meals.

I don’t eat as much tomatoes as I did when I lived in Lagos. This is mostly because I find the quality of tomatoes disheartening. Too watery in most cases, not enough sweetness and definitely missing a lot of the tartness that balances a good tomato. In the winter, I often choose processed and packaged tomatoes over fresh ones because the quality is better and more consistent. Also, I like that I can get fire-roasted tomatoes when I make things like Jollof Rice or even this Tomato Eggplant sauce.

spooning out slices of cooked onions from tomato eggplant sauce in a black cast iron pan

One of the things I have grown to love about this Tomato Eggplant sauce is its versatility. For this post, I have served it with baked potatoes. The slightly spicy edge of the sauce is perfect for a hot potato with cheese. Plus, I really can’t resist the sweet tendrils of caramelized onion covered in tomatoes with pillowy potato morsels.

The tomato eggplant sauce would also make a good dressing for pasta or even a base for shakshuka. There are many possibilities for the sauce; you need to be a bit adventurous.

Tomato Eggplant Sauce in a black cast iron pan.

Smoky Tomato Eggplant Sauce

Sinmi
A simple and relatively quick tomato sauce that is versatile and filled with lovely vegetables. 
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Course Dinner, Sauce
Cuisine African, Nigerian
Servings 10

Ingredients
  

  • 1 pound Purple Eggplant
  • 1 can Diced Tomato
  • 1 Onion (Large)
  • 2 Cloves Garlic
  • 1 Red Pepper (Medium)
  • 1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil
  • 1 tsp thyme
  • 1/2 tsp Parsley
  • 1/2 tsp Smoked Paprika
  • 1 tbsp Crayfish Powder optional*
  • 1 tbsp Chili Flakes
  • Salt to taste

Instructions
 

  • On a gas stove or in a grill, burn the skin of the whole eggplant. The eggplant should have a substantial char all around it. The process of charring the eggplant usually takes 10-15 over an open gas flame. Also, it is possible to do this can be done ahead of time.
  • Place the burnt eggplant in a bowl and cover. Trapping the heat of eggplant would steam off the skin. Let it rest for about ten minutes. Once it is cooled down, remove as much of the skin as possible. Don’t be tempted to scoop out the middle. The bits of the skin left after cleaning helps to give the sauce a smoky aroma.
  • Roughly chop off the cleaned roasted eggplant flesh. Don’t do this in a blender because you don’t want a paste. You want chunks of soft eggplant.
  • Add the tomato, 1/2 of the onions, garlic, the red pepper as well as the chili flakes into a blender. Pulse into a rough paste.
  • Slice the remaining onion.
  • Add the vegetable oil into a saucepan over medium heat. After a minute, add in the onion slices and a pinch of salt. Let the onion cook gently. 
  • Once the onion slices are wilted and almost caramelizing, add in the tomato sauce into the saucepan. 
  • Stir in the herbs, paprika and crayfish powder into the tomato sauce at this point. Let the sauce simmer for about 20 minutes, mixing occasionally. 
  • The tomato sauce is ready for the eggplant chunks when most of the moisture is cooked off. The tomato sauce should be thick before mixing in the eggplant. Make sure to mix in the eggplant chunks so that it is well distributed within the saucepan.
  • Taste the sauce to check for salt. Now is the time to adjust.
  • Let the tomato eggplant sauce simmer for about 5 minutes and then it is done.

Notes

*I debated adding this ingredient to the recipe because it is so culturally specific but I want to be able to talk about how I cook as a NIgerian woman. A good substitute for the crayfish powder would be to melt in some anchovies into the sauce. This boosts the flavor of the sauce.
Keyword Aubergine, Eggplant, Pasta Sauce, Tomato Eggplant Sauce, Tomato Sauce