Ketchup

The end of summer is the best time of the year to make tomato preserves. It is a time you can buy ripe, red beautiful tomatoes. After seeing Jamie Oliver making the ketchup I wanted to try this recipe and make my own ketchup. I was waiting 6 months and finally I made it – the addition to everything!?

The natural ketchup is more orange than red. If you want to have more red home-made ketchup you can add beet roots concentrate- red colour guaranteed!

Ingredients
1 big red onion
½ celery root
1 piece ginger
2 garlic cloves
½ fresh or dry chilli pepper
1 bunch basil
1 tbsp coriander
2 cloves
1 teaspoon pepper
18 oz (500 g) ripe tomatoes
brown sugar*
vinegar
salt
* in the original recipe it’s said to add 200 ml vinegar and 60 g sugar, I added 5 tbsp vinegar and 5 tbsp sugar, it’s a matter of your preferences)

Method
Sauté chopped onion, garlic, celery, basil stalks and spices; simmer covered for about 10 min. Add tomatoes and 12 fl oz /350 ml water. Cook on a low heat until the sauce gets thick and ½ of it evaporate. Add basil leaves, puree everything in a food processor. Liquidise twice through the sieve. Season with salt, sugar and vinegar. Again heat the mixture on a low heat until half evaporate, so the sauce will look like the real ketchup! Pour into prepared jars. Keep sealed.