Ketchup

Ingredients

• 800 g canned crushed tomatoes
• 70 g tomato paste
• 1 piece yellow onion
• 1 clove fresh garlic
• 120 ml cider vinegar
• 75 g light brown sugar
• 8 g fine salt
• 1 tsp sweet paprika
• 1 pinch ground black pepper
• 1 pinch ground cayenne pepper
• 1 piece whole clove
• 1 leaf bay leaf

Method

1. Prepare the aromatics: peel the onion and garlic, then slice them very finely so they melt quickly into the sauce. The pieces should be small and even, with no large chunks that would resist blending.
2. Place the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, onion, garlic, vinegar, sugar, salt, paprika, pepper, chili, whole clove, and bay leaf in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Stir until the tomato paste is completely loosened into the liquid.
3. Bring gently to a simmer over medium heat. As soon as small, steady bubbles break the surface, lower the heat: the sauce should murmur, not boil vigorously, or it will catch and lose its clean tomato flavor.
4. Cook uncovered over low heat, stirring very regularly with a flexible spatula, especially in the corners of the saucepan. The sauce is ready to blend when it has darkened, the onion is completely tender, and the spatula leaves a brief trail on the bottom before the sauce closes over it.
5. Remove the bay leaf and whole clove. Blend for a long time with an immersion blender until you have a very smooth, glossy, homogeneous purée. If the blender splatters, tilt the saucepan slightly and keep the blender head fully submerged.
6. Pass the sauce through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing with the back of a ladle. This gives ketchup its traditional texture: smooth, with no tomato skins, onion fibers, or perceptible graininess.
7. Return the strained sauce to the saucepan. Continue reducing over very low heat, stirring often, until it clearly coats the spoon. The right cue is a clean line drawn with a finger across the back of the spoon that stays open for a few seconds.
8. Taste while the sauce is still hot. It should be sweet, vinegary, salty, and tomato-forward. If it tastes too sharp, continue cooking gently rather than adding sugar: concentration naturally rounds out the acidity.
9. Pour the hot ketchup into a very clean jar. Let it cool uncovered, then seal and refrigerate. Ideally, wait until the next day before serving: the flavor becomes rounder and the spices meld into the tomato.

Nutrition

Per serving

Energy

148.9 kcal

Protein

2.86 g

Carbohydrate

30.35 g

Fat

0.88 g

Fibre

4.84 g

Calcium

57.65 mg

Iron

1.43 mg

Magnesium

36.96 mg