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Tamarillo or tree tomato aji hot sauce {Ecuadorian ají de tomate de árbol}

Recipe for Ecuadorian ají de tomate de árbol, a mild hot sauce made with tamarillo or tree tomato fruits, hot peppers (called ajíes), onion, cilantro, lime juice, salt, and water or oil.

Ecuadorian aji hot sauce recipe

En Español 

Tamarillo or tree tomato aji hot sauce, called ají de tomate de árbol in Ecuador,  is a very tasty hot sauce made from tree tomatoes or tamarillos, hot peppers, onion, cilantro and lime juice. A tree tomato or tomate de arbol, also known as tamarillo, is a South American fruit that looks somewhat like a roma tomato, but pointier and with a thicker skin. 

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Ecuadorian tamarillo or tree tomato hot sauce

Tree tomatoes can be either yellow orangish or dark red depending on the variety, the inside of the fruit will be either orange, dark red or almost purple. They can be eaten just plain, but make sure they are very ripe if eating them plain – they are very tart. Tamarillos or tree tomatoes are used frequently in juices and in desserts (cooked in a panela or sugar cane syrup with cinnamon, clove and other spices). One of the most well known way to use them is to make this aji or hot sauce, which is usually mild to medium spicy, and is served with a lot of different Ecuadorian dishes.

This tamarillo hot sauce is a must-have for green plantain empanadas (or any empanadas), yuca bread, plantain chips, tamales, humitas (a fresh corn tamale) and goes great with potatoes, fish and meat, basically with almost anything.

Aji de tomate de arbol or tree tomato hot sauce

It is very hard to find tree tomatoes in the US, most of the time when you find them they come from New Zealand (so please send us more). In Austin I was able to find them at Fiesta and also occasionally at Central Market. I’ve seen tree tomatoes or tamarillos only a few times in Seattle, once at QFC (U-District) and at Uwajimaya. I asked once at Pike Place Market and was told that several years ago an attempt to introduce them into Seattle was made but it wasn’t successful.

You can find the tree tomato pulp frozen and it works well for juice but doesn’t do too well for this hot sauce (but it’s better than nothing if you have a craving), however sometimes you can find the actual fruits frozen at the Latin grocery stores,  then the hot sauce is almost as good as when made with the fresh fruit.

Tamarillo or tree tomato fruits in Ecuador

This is the basic recipe for tree tomato aji, in some places in Ecuador – especially in Quito – it is very common to add chochos (lupini beans) to this aji, so if you have some on hand feel free to add them. I also love the Cuencano version of tree tomato aji, it’s very smooth and creamy since they blend it with some oil.

Ecuadorian tamarillo or tree tomato hot sauce

Tamarillo or tree tomato ají hot sauce / Ecuadorian ají de tomate de árbol

Tamarillo or tree tomato aji hot sauce is a very tasty hot sauce made from tree tomatoes or tamarillos, hot peppers, onion, cilantro and lime juice.
4.81 from 151 votes
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Course: Salsa, Sauce
Cuisine: Ecuadorian, Latin, South American
Keyword: Aji, Aji sauce, Ecuadorian aji sauce, Tamarillo, Tomate de arbol, Tree tomato
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
Servings: 1 to 1 1/2 cups of tamarillo or tree tomato aji

Ingredients

  • 4-5 tree tomatoes fresh or frozen
  • 2 ajies or hot peppers serranos or red chilies are good options, habaneros if you are very brave
  • 2 tbs finely chopped white onion
  • 1 tbs finely chopped cilantro
  • 1 tbs lime or lemon juice
  • ¼ cup water
  • Salt to taste
  • Optional – Add cooked and peeled chochos or lupini beans

Instructions

  • If using fresh tree tomatoes peel them, boil them for about 5 minutes to make it easier to peel them.
  • If using frozen tree tomatoes, defrost them over night in the fridge, then cut them in half and scoop out all the insides.
  • Blend the tree tomatoes with the hot peppers (seeded and deveined if you want it very mild, you can always save a few seeds and add them in if it’s too mild).
  • Transfer the blended mix of tree tomatoes and hot peppers to a small sauce pan, add the water (you can add more if you want a more liquid sauce) and cook on medium heat for about 5-8 minutes. You can also omit the cooking part, the sauce will be fresher, but will need to be consumed faster.
  • Add the onion, lime juice, cilantro, chochos (if adding), and salt to taste.
  • Serve warm or cold.

Notes

Replace water with oil (avocado, light olive oil, or a mild flavored oil) for a creamier Cuencano style aji (and do not cook it after blending).
Tamarillos or tree tomatoes
Tamarillos or tree tomatoes, also known as tomate de arbol
Frozen tree tomato
Making tree tomato or tamarillo aji hot sauce
Tree tomato aji
Tamarillo or tree tomato aji hot sauce

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50 Comments

  1. Hello again Laylita,

    I live in Florida, and I’ve never found tomate de arbol fresh or frozen anywhere, but I have found in the local grocery store frozen pulpa de tomate de arbol. Tomate de arbol juice and aji taste great using this pulpa, I just wonder where I could get some “chochos” I miss them so much in my salsa de aji.

  2. I made this with the purple tree tomatoes and the salsa ended up looking a little like a blueberry smoothie, but very tasty. Next time I’ll try to find the yellow ones so I can get my husband to eat it, too – he’s into visuals and couldn’t get past the color. :-)

  3. I spotted fresh tamarillos from New Zealand or tree tomatoes at QFC in University Village – they were in an area that had a number of unusual fruits (expensive – $1.99 each)- then I found your blog – and noticed you hadn’t found any in Seattle – so hope this information is helpful.

    Thanks for this amazing blog- I’m bookmarking this one.

  4. Wow – I am so glad to find this recipe. I spent a couple of years in Ecuador and have been looking for a recipe to make this “Aji” as they called it in Ecuador.
    Thank you so much. My mouth is watering thinking about having some. The only difference that I can see is that everywhere I had it they used red tamarillos.

  5. Hi Kathleen, tree tomato juice is really easy to make, just remove the pulp from the tree tomatoes as you did for the aji, blend the pulp with sugar and water, I would use at least 1 tree tomato per each cup of water, strain and drink cold. It’s good but doesn’t compare to the juice made from fresh tree tomatoes.

  6. I found frozen tree tomatoes in a small shop in Chicago. I made this aji, and it was excellent! I would also like to make tree tomato juice – do you have a recipe for that? Thanks for these great Ecuadorian recipes!!

  7. I loved drinking tamarillo juice every day when I was in Ecquador…when I got home to LA I immediatly went to find them. Turns out, they arent hard to find here, just outrageously expensive, so now I limit myself to one glass of juice a year. Sigh. (They come out to about $3 each, and it breaks my heart)…next time I indulge, I think I will have to try this beautiful recipe too! Thank you for the inspiration!

  8. i LOVE hot sauce, and i put it almost everything. in fact, i’m tempted to carry a bottle around and whip it out in restaurants. this sounds deliciously spicy and if i can find some tree tomatoes, you can bet i’ll be making it!

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