Cooking tomatoes

Once the spices are cooked through, many recipes call for chopped tomatoes. Use fresh tomatoes if they are in season and flavourful, or good-quality tinned if not. Tomatoes need cooking for longer than you may expect, and have three distinct stages. First, all the water must leave the tomatoes; then they need to be cooked until they disintegrate completely; finally, they need to caramelise in the oil (pic 3). The mixture tends to dry up before the latter stages are complete. Although it may seem counterproductive, when this happens, add a tablespoonful or two of water, so that you can continue the process.