Latin Tomato Sauce

I discovered this favorite Latin tomato sauce when I was looking for Cuban recipes. I was reading through Viva Vegan! by Terry Hope Romero when I found it. This is her recipe, but I have assigned a more exact measurement to the diced onions and minced garlic. All I know is, this recipe is perfect. I absolutely love the flavor.

We ate this sauce with our pupusas and curtido, as it is commonly served. I tried it on the side of the pupusas, with a side of curtido, and another time topped the pupusas with curtido on top of the sauce. Any way you want to eat it, these three are meant to be together. We even had leftover pupusas and curtido with our Cubano sandwiches a couple of days later. It’s all so good!

This versatile sauce is good warm, right after it’s cooked, but it’s also good served cold after being refrigerated. I use it with corn chips as a kind of super-blended salsa.

It’s also very good served warm on potatoes or cauliflower and is perfectly suited to mixing with any kind of beans, and with corn.

You can leave this sauce chunky if you wish, especially if you want to use it for a chip dip or vegetable topping. I put mine into my high speed personal blender, but you can also use an immersion blender to make it smooth.

For the tomatoes in this recipe, you can use either diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, or crushed tomatoes. I used diced tomatoes, because I always have them on hand. The sauce was slightly grainier in the end than it would have been with tomato sauce. You can experiment to see which you prefer. In her recipe, Terry also gives the options of vegetable broth, white wine, or water. I used vegetable broth and the sauce was great.

If you are tempted to omit the lime juice, don’t. Once you add the lime, the flavor is taken to another level.

You will love this sauce eaten with Vegan Salvadoran Pupusas and Curtido Salvadoran Slaw.

Print Recipe

Latin Tomato Sauce

A delicious tomato-based sauce to serve with pupusas and curtido, on vegetables or as a cold salsa.

Course

Appetizer, Side Dish

Cuisine

Cuban, Honduran, Latin, Salvadoran

Keyword

crushed tomatoes, cumin, diced tomatoes, dried oregano, garlic, lime juice, olive oil, onion, onions, oregano, tomato sauce, tomatoes, yellow onion

Prep Time

5 minutes

Cook Time

20 minutes

Servings

cups

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3/4 teaspoon garlic minced, about 3 cloves
• 1 cup yellow onion finely diced
• 1-1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 cup vegetable broth,
• 1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes or crushed tomatoes or tomato sauce, approximate ounces
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• black pepper to taste

Course Appetizer, Side Dish Cuisine Cuban, Honduran, Latin, Salvadoran Keyword crushed tomatoes, cumin, diced tomatoes, dried oregano, garlic, lime juice, olive oil, onion, onions, oregano, tomato sauce, tomatoes, yellow onion Prep Time 5 minutes Cook Time 20 minutes Servings cups Ingredients 1 tablespoon olive oil 3/4 teaspoon garlic minced, about 3 cloves 1 cup yellow onion finely diced 1-1/2 teaspoon dried oregano 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin 1/4 cup vegetable broth, 1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes or crushed tomatoes or tomato sauce, approximate ounces 1 tablespoon lime juice 1/2 teaspoon salt black pepper to taste

Instructions

1. In a medium saucepan, saute the garlic for one minute.
2. Add the diced onion and saute until the onion is translucent and starts to brown a little.
3. Stir in the oregano and cumin.
4. Add the broth to deglaze the pan (by scraping the sides and bottom to loosen anything stuck to the pan.)
5. Add the tomatoes and simmer for 10 minutes.

   
6. Add the lime juice, salt and pepper. Remove the pan from the burner.
7. Put the sauce into a blender, or high speed personal blender, or use an immersion blender. Blend to desired smoothness.

   
8. Serve warm or pop it into the refrigerator to serve cold later. To reheat, warm in a sauce pan over low to medium heat, or place a bowl of it in the microwave, covered with a paper towel (to stop splatters). Microwave for 30 seconds at a time, stirring after each time, until the sauce is heated through.

Recipe Notes

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