Big Man and I are trying to shed a few kilos. He´s not my Big Man for nothing you know! He has a very big heart, which is good, the waistlines (his and mine) could do with a little streamlining though. In Spain, if you go on a diet at this time of year, they call it “Plan Bikini”. The thought of either us in anything other than a large, stout bathing costume or trunks would be enough to scare anyone, but we´re trying to be sensible.
Being sensible doesn´t have to mean dull though, and I cooked up this delicious (no fat) sauce to go with some grilled fish. It would taste just as good though with grilled meat or vegetables. Probably not so good with grilled bananas though! I like my sauce quite spicy, but you can make it as hot (or not) as you like.
- Two cups of peeled, chopped tomatoes (or used tinned)
- A teaspoon of salt
- A good few grinds of black pepper
- One tablespoon of brown sugar
- Two tablespoons of white wine vinegar
- A teaspoon of ground cinnamon
- Hot chili powder to taste (I used 2 teaspoons of hit, smoked pimentón)
- Dried chili flakes to taste (I used two birds eye chilies, crumbled)
Put everything into a saucepan, bring to the boil them simmer for 5 minutes and that´s it. Serve hot or cold.
Makes enough for several meals and will keep in the fridge for a week, or you can freeze. Bet it doesn´t last long enough though!
Chica Andaluza 
Sounds great! Eating lighter in the summer is so much easier. All the vegetables and grilled meat.
It´s true – when it´s so hot (which it finally seems to be today) you don´t fancy heavy meals. Mind you, you still have ice cream to contend with!
Oh this would go so well with those artichokes. I need to make this!
Heavy on the chili I say…and so easy.
That sounds wonderful – the sort of sauce you can eat all summer with grilled fish, meat and vegetables. I’d make mine without the hot pepper, though. The chorizo peppers we grew last year would go well, and we still have some dried ones left.
Sounds good with the chorizo peppers. Have never grown those. This year I planted up lots of seeds of my hot peppers and now can´t remember which ones are which. Must label my pots!
looks awesome! Speaking of ice cream, I had ice cream tonight. Wonderful on a hot evening.
You´re a cruel, cruel woman talking to me about ice cream!! 🙂
Home-made tomato sauce is one of my favourites. I had a glut of toms once and made a big pot of sauce. I ran out of containers so used plastic bags. Big mistake. One of the bags split as l was half-way across the kitchen and l was left with tomato splats everywhere, all over me, the floor, ceiling, work tops….lesson learnt!
Great sauce Tanya. Although I must admit that dipping a salted crisp in it would be super yummy but not part of the Plan Bikini. 😉 I make a similar sauce with the addition of onion and we love serving it over pap (maize meal) similar to polenta.
🙂 Mandy
Oh yes, crisps! Maybe we´ll have to come up with a plan for a super low fat crisp, but I think that would just take all the fun out of it. I remember years ago, when microwaves were fairly new (we´re going back a long way here) I bought a little plate with grooves cut all the way around. You were supposed to put really thin slices of potato into each groove, then microwave and end up with home made low fat crisps. Don´t remember them ever being very nice though! Your sauce with pap (glad I know what that is now) sounds delicious as I love polenta!
The concept of the plate sounds great but making a crisp in the microwave, hmm, not so sure. I remember my Mom had a wavy one for cooking bacon. 🙂
Great Sauce Chica. Going to give this one a go. We are both on ” plan bikini” at the moment! LOL! As if!
Florence x
Maybe we should call it “Plan Big Flowy Smock Dress”. Don´t think you need to bother about worrying about calories though!
It looks delicious! And no fat… I simply have to try that. I also like my sauce very spicy. 🙂
I love spicy food too, chillies on everything!