tomato paste

Tomato paste is Solanum lycopersicum reduced to a pantry staple, and two recipes here reach for it in small, measured amounts. In the Gazan Sayadiya, 15 ml goes in with the crushed garlic once the second onion has cooked slowly to deep brown, and the two cook together for 2 to 3 minutes before the soaked rice is added. In the Japanese Curry, 1 tbsp (15 ml) goes in late, after about 2 cups of hot broth have been whisked into the roux skillet, along with the soy sauce and honey, and the pot then simmers uncovered for 20 minutes until the sauce holds a line when a spoon is dragged through it.

The Journal's note on how salt suppresses bitterness is where the paste earns its place. It lists reduced tomato among the foods that deliver sodium together with free glutamate, which is what a cook means by savoury. Kikunae Ikeda named that second half umami in Tokyo in 1908, while working on a broth of kombu and dried bonito. The note argues that salt does the quiet part, clearing bitterness so the glutamate has a clean run, and advises salting early and in layers. The Japanese Curry is salted that way: a pinch with the onions, salt in the simmer, and a last adjustment after thickening. The library traces glutamic acid to the paste and describes it as triple umami.