Braised Onions and Carrots in Tomato Sauce – Easy Side Dish

We have always made braised onions with carrots and tomato as a side dish, and in all sorts of versions. An incredibly simple method, affordable ingredients and less than an hour of your time. The remarkable thing about this vegetable dish is that, depending on how thick you make it, it can be a side, a main course, a sauce or even a tomato soup.

Simple, affordable vegetables: onions, fresh juicy carrots, a little tomato paste or pure tomato juice — and the braised onions with carrots turn out superb. We use the same approach to make the sauce for cabbage rolls with rice and ground pork, as well as a beloved family fish dish that tastes a lot like sprats in tomato sauce — fish in tomato sauce with mashed potatoes.

Who doesn't know what a carrot is? We are so used to these pretty orange roots that we never stop to think they are simply the root of an umbellifer with wonderfully beautiful tops. Carrots grow all over the world — reportedly even in Antarctica (in greenhouses, of course) and in space aboard the station. Cultivated table carrots are used in cooking, while fodder carrots are grown as animal feed.

Braised onions with carrots and tomato are made with onions, one of the most widely used vegetables in the kitchen. Raw onion is rather pungent and “fragrant”, but heat takes away the smell and the sharp taste, and when fried properly the onion even turns sweet. I once read that the sharper the onion, the more sugars it contains. Apparently, when frying, the sugar caramelizes and gives fried onions that lovely golden color.

Braised onions with carrots taste so good thanks to the tomato. Cooks use fresh tomatoes or canned tomato pulp, pure tomato juice or tomato paste. Paste is used most often: it is concentrated, strained tomato pulp, and its dry matter content can reach 40%.

As a side dish, braised onions with carrots go perfectly with meat fried or braised in large pieces. The advantage of this side is that you can make it ahead and reheat it as needed. And for vegetarians, braised onions with carrots and mashed potatoes make a great lunch.