Tomato Sauce/Ketchup
Tomato sauce or ketchup is a firm staple condiment in many households. As is the case with most condiments, the home-made version is much healthier and you get to control what ingredients go into it. Here’s my easy version that anyone can make.
Ingredients
- 1 kg tomatoes about 10
- 4 garlic cloves pressed or chopped
- 1 onion roughly chopped
- 4-10 dried red chillies depending on the spice level you want, you can omit if you do not want it spicy
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/4 tsp. dried thyme
- 1/4 tsp. dried oregano
- 3 tsp. salt
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup white vinegar
- 2 tbsp. oil
- 1/4 tsp. black pepper powder
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 tsp. cornflour mixed with 1 tbsp water
Instructions
- Bring a deep pan of water to a rolling boil. Wash and make shallow slits in the shape of a cross on the bottom of each tomato. Then gently put them all in the boiling water and simmer for 1 minute. Remove them and dunk them in cold/icy water. This will make them easy to peel. Using the slit, peel off all the skins, then chop up the tomatoes.Heat the oil in a pan, add the onion and garlic, stir fry for a couple of minutes until aromatic. Then add the dried thyme and oregano, followed by the bay leaf and the chopped tomatoes. Stir over medium heat for a few minutes, then add all the other ingredients EXCEPT the cornflour.Turn the heat down to low, cover the pan and simmer for one hour, giving everything an occasional stir. After an hour, turn off the heat and allow the tomato mixture to cool slightly. Pull out the bay leaf and discard. Then blend the cooled mixture to as smooth a consistency as you can. After blending, pass it through a strainer to get it even smoother and to get rid of any seeds.Put the strained mixture back into the pan. Mix the cornflour in water and add it in. Simmer on low heat while stirring until the tomato ketchup thickens slightly. Remember it will thicken a bit more as it cools. Pour into a bottle and keep refrigerated until needed. The ketchup will keep for up to a month.Serve with fries or in burgers or sandwiches and so on.Enjoy! 🙂
Thanks Fauzia for this recipe
Thanks Fauzia for this recipe, its very economical, however once refrigerated does the ketchup need to be put back in the fridge after use or can it stay at room temp?
Yes, best to keep it
Yes, best to keep it refrigerated as this is home-made and without preservatives so I would not recommend for it to be stored at room temperature.
So I live in a cold country where indoors the temperature stays between 20-25 C. I never refrigerated the ketchup after making it. It lasted for 1.5 months! (Well, I don’t know if it would have lasted longer, because that is when we finished the ketchup and it was fine till then 😛)
Hallo Fauzia,
Hallo Fauzia,
I have tried different recipes from different websites but yours is foolproof in almost all the recipes I have tried! My son doesn’t enjoy cake but when I baked your chocolate cake, he eats it all and is always asking me to bake.
I have referred friends to our website!
Thank you Fauzia!
Hello Belinda! Thank you so
Hello Belinda! Thank you so much! <3
Can we skip the dried thyme?
Can we skip the dried thyme?
Yes you can omit the thyme.
Yes you can omit the thyme.
I cannot believe I made my own bottle of ketchup!! I did not expect the ketchup to come out so perfect! So thank you ❤️