Simple Tomato Sauce with Fresh Tomatoes

To Blanch The Tomatoes

• ake one tomato and remove the top of the tomatoes. At the bottom of the tomato, make a cross with your knife. This helps the skin to come off easily. Do that for all the tomatoes. Set aside.
• Take a clean bowl. Add water and ice and prepare an ice bath. Set aside.
• In a clean pot, bring water to a boil. Carefully, add the tomatoes one by one. Boil them for a minute or till you see the skin of the tomatoes loosen.
• Take the tomatoes of the heat and pick one with a big spoon. Carefully, dunk it into the ice bath. Do that for all the tomatoes.
• After about a minute, remove the skin of the tomatoes with your fingers and add them to a clean pot. With a masher, roughly mash the tomatoes.

To Make the Tomato Sauce

• Put this pot with the tomatoes on the heat and cook it till you reach a sauce consistency
• Once it reaches that consistency, add the bay leaf and basil, and cook till the water has completely evaporated and the sauce is thick. This can take up to 20 to 30 minutes. Cook it on medium heat and keep on stirring in between.
• In a separate pan, add the olive oil. Once the oil heats up, add the garlic and onions. Saute the onions till they turn golden brown.
• Add this onion mixture to the tomato sauce. Then, add the salt, pepper, red chili flakes and tomato paste. Cook for a few minutes and take it off the heat.
• Note: If you do not want your sauce to be chunky, once the sauce has cooled down, blend it to a smooth consistency in a blender. It can be refrigerated in an air tight container for a few days.