2 Tomato Sauces

Uncle Mursal Mohamed Abdulle just came back from Russia when he called me, my brother and a young uncle to the kitchen. I had just turned 12 and my brother was 13. He announced, “Today I will teach you how to cook been dallac.” Been dallac is a very basic tomato sauce that Somalis like to eat with anjero. The literal translation of been dallac is faux or pretend stir fry. In Somali, been means lie and for Somalis, a sauce with no meat is just a big lie. Many Somalis also know this tomato sauce as dallac bilaash and bilaash means having no worth. Yes, Somalis and their meat!

We were excited standing in the kitchen, just the boys, with no girls around. We were also excited because we were going to witness, for the first time, a male member of the family cooking. History was being made. Uncle Mursal knew everything and he was the one who would settle our arguments. It was at the height of the Cold War and when we wanted to know who would win if the Americans and Russians went to war, uncle Mursal knew the answer. Argument settled. It helped that he lived across the fence from the Chinese who, at the time, were building the National Theatre in Mogadishu. He befriended them and that also lent authority to whatever he said.

He prepared the sauce and it was the best, real, faux sauce we have ever had!

In this post, we prepared two tomato sauces, one basic and the other with additions. If you want to taste the tomatoes then the basic sauce should be your first choice. It is also easier and quicker to prepare. We decided not to remove the seeds because Somalis traditionally do not bother seeding their tomatoes. If you decide to remove the seeds, we suggest that you see our video on Peeling & Seeding Tomatoes. Try to extricate as much of the juices from the seeds.

The Tomato Sauce with Extras is more robust and is great as side dish or for cooking meat or fish in it. We used only one jalapeno pepper and seeded it. Adjust the heat according to your taste.

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