Tomato sauce - accompaniment you cannot live without

Hi everyone, 

I am back with a simple recipe that everyone can try at home. All snacks fried or steamed or even raw is eaten with an accompaniment. If nothing is at home,  the one we always fall back upon is tomato sauce or ketchup. In our family, my chithi makes tomato sauce at home. It tasted just like the bottled one. That day I was talking to her about it and she immediately gave me the recipe. I tried it and it is very close to the bottled variety.

One thing is we can make it fresh at home and keep for a week or two in the fridge. Not advisable to make a very big batch.

Let's see

INGREDIENTS:- 

• Tomatoes   :- 9 medium ones
• Onion         :- 3 or 4 big
• Garlic         :- to taste
• Salt             :- to taste
• Sugar         :- 1 tbsp
• Vinegar     :- 1 tsp
• Green chilly :- 2
• Cinnamon          :- 1 small piece
• Bay leaves           :- 1
• Cloves                  :-1 or 2
• Red chilli flakes :- 2 tbsp

Take all these spices and put in a muslin cloth and tie them into a very small bundle. If muslin cloth not available ,use a small clean kerchief. We don't want to taste the spices, we just need the flavor. 

In a big pan blanch the tomatoes and green chilly. Remove the skin after it cools. Then blend the tomatoes with salt , sugar, onion and garlic into a fine puree. Now filter the puree for any seeds.

Take the tomato puree in a pan along with the bundle of spices and let it boil for 15 - 20 minutes.  After the puree becomes a thick sauce like consistency, add vinegar and simmer for 5 minutes. Then remove the bundle . Again boil the sauce for 5 to 10 minutes till we get the desired consistency then switch off the gas.  Store while it's still warm in a glass bottle.

Some tips

Always store in a glass bottle as tomato is acidic. 

The initial recipe didn't have onion or garlic so that was added later by me. Based on the taste preference, we can either increase, decrease or avoid onion and garlic. 

 

It's easy and preservative free and also taste controlled by us.

Please try and let me know.