White Tower

White Tower is a tomato paste label packed for kitchens that get through a lot of it, from restaurants and takeaways to families who cook in big batches. The paste is made by cooking ripe tomatoes down until most of the water has gone, leaving a dense, sweet and slightly tangy concentrate.

We carry White Tower paste in our tinned tomatoes collection, part of the tins and ready meals department. Paste does a different job from chopped or plum tomatoes: it adds depth and colour without extra liquid, so a sauce thickens faster and a dry curry stays dry. Many cooks keep both, using tins for volume and paste for concentration.

In North Indian cooking a spoon of tomato paste deepens a makhani gravy, a lamb rogan josh or a chicken karahi, and restaurants use it for the brick red colour of tikka masala. Sri Lankan cooks add it to devilled chicken and prawns, and it is the base of Turkish, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean stews, from lentil soup to shakshuka. Fry the paste in oil for a minute or two until it darkens before adding liquid, which takes away the raw edge and brings out its sweetness.

A catering tin is far more than one meal needs, so once opened spoon the rest into clean jars, smooth the top and cover it with a thin layer of oil before refrigerating. Paste also freezes well in an ice cube tray, giving ready portions for later. To compare with other tomato products, see our tinned vegetables and cooking sauces.