Nomato Sauce
In macrobiotics we don't eat nightshade vegetables because they contain toxic alkaloids such as solanine. This group includes potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers. Tomatoes also contain the toxic alkaloid tomatine. Read the article Nightshade Vegetables to learn more. Americans rarely ate tomatoes until after about 1920. They were never meant for human or animal consumption, and most cultures reject them. Only Southern Italians, Greeks, and Spaniards make a staple out of them.
If you want a delicious red pasta sauce, or a fine chili that tastes amazingly like tomatoes, you can make these easily and cheaply with regular grocery store ingredients. This will make three pints. Freeze each unused pint of red. Here is the Italian style:
1.5 c chopped onion
1 c chopped celery
1 c chopped carrots
0.5 c sliced beets (can be canned)
1 c any kind of stock you like
1 tbsp garlic
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
4 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1-2 tsp ground bay leaf
juice of one lemon
1 tsp salt
For chili, omit the Italian seasoning. Add 2 tbsp chili powder, 1 tbsp cumin, and 1 tbsp oregano, with two cans of your favorite beans. Plant meats go well here. This makes some great macrobiotic chili. Plant meats go well here like Impossible® and Beyond® soy foods.
Instead of lemon juice, you can use 3-4 tbsp of seeded Japanese umeboshi plums for a really excellent taste. The paste is much cheaper than the whole plums. You can find inexpensive umeboshi at many Asian stores. You can also find this on the Internet, and Eden® is the leading supplier. About $8 for a 7 ounce container in 2023. Omit the salt if you use this.
Feel free to experiment with other vegetables like cauliflower, red or green cabbage, or various squashes. Hard squashes like pumpkin or acorn work well. Adjust the ingredients and seasonings to your taste.
Simmer this for a half hour until all the vegetables are very soft. Blend well with an inexpensive immersion blender ($20). You can add mushrooms, green and/or black olives, tempeh, vegetarian beef, vegetarian sausage, or firm seafood (e.g. shrimp, scallops, etc.) AFTER it is blended. Otherwise you'll blend it into the sauce.
Macrobiotic food cooked creatively is delicious. You will not miss meat, poultry, eggs, dairy products, nightshade vegetables, and tropical fruits. Asian cooking in general is the most creative and healthy. Asian cooks in general use little fat, lots of vegetables, and great flavors. Be creative and flavor your meals well without fat.
See also the article Montreal Seasoning.