TOMATO TORCH GINGER POMODORO

Congratulations!

Whoops! Did I just say that out loud? ☺

I get all excited and celebratory when I try out something new in the kitchen and it turns out PERFECT!

I know, I know. It’s just tomato sauce. Pomodoro.
NO. IT’S. NOT.

My original recipe was the Pomodoro di Sophia. But then this happened!! (I wish I could have some background sound effects for this ha ha !)

Who am I kidding? I am NOT Italian. Although that would be cool ☺
I whipped out an Asian herb and hey lo, behold!

The secret ingredient that makes this recipe standout is TORCH GINGER. You’ve probably heard of it by it’s other names, like ginger liliy, wild ginger, Philippine wax flower, bunga kantan, kecombrang, xiang bao jiaing, boca de dragon, and many more.
It is a fragrant flower, almost like a successful marriage between lemongrass and ginger.

If you ever find one in your local Asian store, you will love this aromatic. You just use the flower part (the bud) and chop it up. The stem is less fragrant though, so I seldom use it. Even if I do, I only the stem around the base of the flower and never go further than 3cm from that. This part of the flower, I use to make my own Veggie Stock.

Please don’t worry too much, if you do not find this flower in your country. This recipe will still work well. Just not as fragrant, but it will still WORK WELL.

On to the recipe, shall we?

TOMATO TORCH GINGER POMODORO

INGREDIENTS:

•1/2 cup brown onion, diced
• 3 cloves of garlic, roasted in foil
• 1/2 tsp chile flakes
• 1 cup finely diced red bell peppers( to help sweeten the sauce)
• 2 Tablespoons chopped torch ginger
• 1/4 cup vegetable stock
• 6 to 8 leaves fresh basil, ripped
• 5 cups heirloom tomatoes, cored and small–diced
• freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 6 to 8 leaves fresh basil, ripped
• 1 Tablespoon coconut sugar (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

Wrap garlic ( UN-peeled) in foil and roast in oven for 15-20 minutes. Will be ready to use after, just peel of skin when done and mash it. Be careful, as it will be HOT.

In a large fry pan, or pot, dry sauté ( no oil) the onion until they release fragrance, then add garlic until they begin to almost caramelize.
Add the chile flakes, torch ginger and the optional red bell peppers and cook until they melt and blend with the onions and garlic.

At this point, add just enough vegetable stock to deglaze the pan and cook for 4 minutes or until onions are translucent.our goal is to NOT burn the aromatics at this point
To finish the sauce, add the cored chopped tomatoes and cook on medium–low heat for 20 to 25 minutes, tossing or stirring to be sure they do not stick to the pan. Deglaze again with veggie broth ONLY WHEN NEEDED. We need the sauce to thicken and not end up with a runny sauce.
Add freshly-ground black pepper and remove from heat. Add the fresh basil and stir in evenly.

Take out half of the batch and blend in a food processor then put back in pan and over low heat. Keep stirring until liquid reduces, for we want a thick sauce, not runny.
Alternatively, you can also blend the whole batch for a smoother sauce, of course, please wait for sauce to cool down before proceeding to blend in blender or FP.

Note:
Torch Ginger just makes it more dramatic and in depth. Try your local Asian store to get this ingredient. If not possible, it’s totally OKAY ❤️ it will still make a good #homemade tomato pomodoro 😘😘
You can always use a ready made store bought Veggie Stock or Veggie Broth. I always make my own, and you can find out how to do that here

As usual, please, please tag me on instagram @sophienavita when you make this recipe. I’m on Facebook too at Sophie Navita .

Please feel free to share this recipe to friends and family. Tweet it ☺’

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