4 Easy Peasy Tomato-y Recipes

I love tomatoes. Anything with tomatoes, rich and acidic and sweet, is almost always an automatic win for me. Which is a good thing because a lot of North Indian food tends to come with a base of tomatoes. A lot of tadkas involve tomatoes alongside many, many spices, either slow roasted over a flame until mushy, or blended and then cooked.

Mmmm, tomato-y goodness.

Looking back at the many recipes I’ve tried since I started cooking in earnest some 7, 8 years ago, it’s unsurprising that so many of them involve tomatoes in some way or form. Sauces or slices, vine-ripened or cherry or sun-dried – any and every form of tomato is a good tomato.

I narrowed down some of my favourite recipes that I’ve tried over the years. Two of these, I tried in the last week alone, and so have not had a chance to adapt them to taste. But the original recipe is Worth Trying, 100%. (The only adaptations I’ve made is to substitute the garlic with celery and/or coriander roots.)

I found this vegan shakshuka recipe some time in early 2019 and fell in love with the flavour profile, the spice, the everything. I made it so many times in a short period of time, had a cousin over for lunch who immediately asked for the recipe. It is quick and easy if you have all the ingredients. My few adaptations to the recipe were for dietary concerns only. It is warm and filling, and such a nice bowl of comfort on a rainy day. Cut and bake some tortillas into chips to dip into a bowl of tomato-y goodness for some perfection.

The easiest pink (or orange, like my daughter says) sauce pasta I have ever made, this lighter tomato cream pasta has gone through some adaptation since I first realised I could narrow down the ingredient list by using cream cheese instead of cream and cheese separately. Why yes, I am a ‘throw things in the pot and see what sticks’ kinda cook. With kiddos 5 and under in the house, I no longer add the chilli flakes into the sauce and instead keep them on the table for those of us who like the heat. Depending on availability, I use dried herbs (basil and oregano) instead of fresh, and – this is my favourite adaptation, to be honest – I blend in the cream cheese. The sauce is smooth and creamy and FULL of flavour.

I made this roasted tomato and red pepper soup for the first time last week. My older daughter had been asking for tomato soup after we had an amazing bowl of it when we visited my parents earlier this year, and I’m looking to recreate that. This bowl was not it, but wow, was it jam-packed with flavour. We made little grilled cheese sandwiches to dunk into the soup, and I was in love. I may revisit this to adapt a little bit – more tomatoes, a little bit of spice and heat – but definitely a soup to remember.

Sometimes North Indian cuisine can take forever to make. Sometimes, it comes together in, oh, 30 minutes or less? This chana palak masala, or chickpea spinach curry, came together in the time it took for my rice to cook in the rice cooker. I used finely chopped fresh spinach and left off the coriander leaves, and just before serving, stirred in a little bit of coconut milk. Finger licking good, honestly. If you bake fresh naan with this, it would have a longer cook time, but I feel like that would be worth it. Definitely trying it the next time around with some plain naan.

These are only four of the tomato-y recipes I have saved. Tomatoes are such a staple in so many cuisines that I might make another little round up, just of some more of my favourite recipes.

I wasn’t kidding when I said I love tomatoes!