Topic: tomato paste , puree or passata

[PACMAN]

On the subject of the tomato purees used at the restaurant
do they use tomato paste, puree or passata?
they sell copious amounts of tomato paste in the indian grocers all with a concentrate of 20% this means that theoretically
if you mix with 4 paste to 1 water you get the real thing whilst with double concentrate puree you need a ratio of 1 to 1 to get the real thing.
However the pastes are extremely salty unlike passata and puree and you have to be careful when adding salt.
Is it likely the restaurants make their own puree made from sivved canned tomatos as i have never seen passata for sale in an indian
grocer and think it highly unlikely they will use anything from a Britsh supermarket.
I also think it unlikely that they use concentrated purees and pastes as these have been through a heat treatment process and are already cooked to some degree.

does anyone know for sure?

paul

[Curry King]

They use big tins of tomato paste

[pete]

I went to one of the large Asian supermarkets in search of the tomato truth.
I searched through all the tomato products I could find.
I could find no passata.
There was puree and paste.
I bought a tin and it's far too large for my needs (830 grammes).
I bet that's about 50 tablespoons!
It is made by Nurkon.
It is the only Nurkon product that I possess.
On the side of the tin it says 28-30%.
I compared it to good old "Asda Tomato Puree" which says "tomatoes 100%, gluten free, no colours, preservatives or flavourings"
They are identical in appearance, texture and flavour.
Strange that they are, theoretically, different concentrates.
Does anyone know a brand name tomato product that restaurants use?
I have seen their puree and it is the same consistency as pureed canned tomatoes.
Maybe it is that.
After all a major consideration is cost, and that would be cheap.

[PACMAN]

The tomato paste in my local Asian place is called Safa tomato paste but fortunately comes in normal size cans and also miniature cans at 15p per can . approximately 3 Tablespoons.
This paste is very salty and i am getting more convined that the better restaurants use fresh pureed italian plum tomatos. All the East end varietys are italian.
Tomato paste is cooked for several hours and always has a concentrate between 18 and 30%. tomato puree is cooked for a much shorter time.
The restaurants i have seen add the tomato 'puree' at the start but why do this if you are using a precooked paste?

[pete]

This paste is very salty and i am getting more convined that the better restaurants use fresh pureed italian plum tomatos.

The restaurants use hand blenders to puree the curry gravy.
It makes sense that they just might puree some cans of tinned tomatoes, at the same time.
The ordinairy puree does seem far too intense a flavour for the curries.

[Mark J]

Indeed, I reckon they use canned whole tomoatoes remove the juice and puree

[curryqueen]

I was told that they use tomato paste to a dish simply for colour and for no other reason.  I have done a taste test on double concentrate tomato puree and "kyknos" which I bought in my local Asian shop.  The tomato puree was thicker and tasted stronger than the tin I bought.  The strange thing about this is that the "kyknos" was bought in Asian grocers, but, was made in Greece!

[pete]

The strange thing about this is that the "kyknos" was bought in Asian grocers, but, was made in Greece!

Yes, the paste I bought was Italian.
Crazy!

[Ramirez]

Sorry for resurrecting this old thread. I am a little confused on the difference between paste and puree.

This is the stuff I have found at my local cash and carry. Is this the sort of thing that a BIR would use? I plan on freezing the remainder of this - can you guys see a problem with this?

I plan on making some of CA's recipes soon and he specifically states 'tomato paste', so I want to make sure I am using the right stuff.

[joshallen2k]

Ramirez, that's the one.

Note that some recipes call for the paste to be diluted in a bit of water, others just call for it neat.

-- Josh