Sauces are amongst the most popular of our recipes, and I don’t find it very difficult to understand why: a proper sauce is able to elevate a bland dish to an entirely new level of exquisiteness, so it would make sense to use sauces that are made with high-quality ingredients and taste good. Well, I can’t see a better way to achieve that than by preparing your own ketchup, which is exactly what we are going to show you here. Enjoy the easy and straightforward preparation and don’t forget to leave a comment with your opinion.
14oztinned tomatoes
13ozfresh tomatoes
1ozshallots
1 clovegarlic
1ozgranulated sugar
¼ tspmustard seeds
1 budclove
¼ tspground allspice
¼ tspground ginger
1ozred bell pepper
1 pinchcinnamon
⅛ tspcayenne pepper
⅛ tspsweet paprika
2 tbspapple vinegar
¼ tspsalt
To thicken the ketchup
⅛ tspagar agar powder
1 tbspwater (to disperse the agar)
Instructions
- Add the tinned and fresh tomatoes to the blender’s jug, and process them until properly combined.
- Strain the tomato juice to remove all the tomato seeds and skins using a fine mesh strainer.
- Place all the ingredients into a pan, apart from the vinegar, the salt and the gelling agent, which will be needed at the end of the cooking process. Also, remove the head from the clove bud, as we don’t want it in the pan.
- Add the previously prepared tomato juice into the pan and stir well to combine the ingredients. Turn on the heat on high and bring the sauce to a boil.
- As soon as the sauce starts boiling, lower the heat to the minimum and start counting the cooking time.
- Cook the sauce for 10 minutes on the lowest heat, to evaporate the excess water and concentrate the flavour. Once the first 10 minutes are elapsed, stir the sauce and cook it for another 10 minutes, and so on. Ketchup is generally ready in 40 to 60 minutes.
- Once you have repeated this process for 4 to 5 times (40 to 50 minutes of total cooking time) you will end up with a thick and aromatic tomato sauce.
- Add the gelling agent mixed with a touch of water, the vinegar, the salt and stir to combine. Also remember to remove the clove from the pan.
- Bring the sauce back to a simmer over a medium heat, lower the heat to the minimum and cook for the last 10 minutes.
- Once the time has elapsed, let the sauce cool down completely before blending it to obtain the final ketchup.
Substitutions and Tips
- Feel free to use any sugar you prefer for this recipe. However, do know that dark varieties work best.
- The mustard seeds can be substituted with ⅛ tsp/2 pinches of mustard powder.
- Feel free to substitute the apple vinegar with any other preferred vinegar.
Yield, Times and Info
Makes: 250g of ketchup - 1 cup
Preparation Time: 10m
Cooking Time: 55m
Total Time: 1h 5m
Storage Times: It will keep for up to 1 week in the fridge.
Preparation Time: 10m
Cooking Time: 55m
Total Time: 1h 5m
Storage Times: It will keep for up to 1 week in the fridge.
Nutritional Info
Serving Size: 30g Calories: 30kcal Carbohydrate: 7g Sugar: 5g Fiber: 1g Fat: 0.2g Unsaturated Fat: 0.2g Protein: 0.8g Sodium: 70mg Water: 22g
