Bean based stew. Alternative to tomatoe sauce
I found I'd run out of chopped tomatoes when half way through making 3 bean &amp; sweet potato chilli. I did add a little tomato puree, but only had a little of that, so had to find a substitute sauce. 

The bulk of the liquid I used was beer, quite a bitter, tasty beer. I used more cocoa powder than normal (I always use some), and a bit of extra garlic. I thickened it a little towards the end, with just a bit of cornflour, and took some of the sweet potato out, mashed it and returned it for further thickening. I often use a little beer in chilli sauce, but not normally as the bulk, so long as I did some thickening.

A blended, slow-cooked, onion-based sauce, as is used as the base of some curries, should work nicely. This is something I make, and haven't seen it sold, but it freezes well.