August 13, 2008

Tomato Ketchup/Sauce


Most of the time, its store bought ketchup at home. When tomatoes are in season and when I get them at throw-away price, I make ketchup and pickle using them. Though preparing ketchup is time consuming, if you get everything ready, then it is easy to prepare. And constant attention to the recipe is not required. So this can be done along with the other cooking, so that you can oversee the progress at intervals. This recipe is from the hand-written list of my mother-in-law. So the exact recipe source is unknown.

Select ripe, juicy tomatoes with less seeds. Blanch and peel the tomatoes. Make puree of it and strain. I don't have patience to do the blanching and peeling. I totally ignore this step. Still it comes out fine. I directly wash and put the tomatoes in the mixer grinder and make puree and strain.
If you use 2 Kg of tomatoes, you will get around 10 cups of juice. I prepared with 1.5 kg and I adjusted the ingredients.

The following ingredients are for 10 cups of tomato juice.

Sugar - 1 cup
Vinegar - 1/2 cup
salt - 1 tspn
To be tied in a cheese cloth
Garlic - 2 pods
Onion - 1 medium
Jeera - 1 tspn
Cardamom - 5 nos
Cloves - 3 nos
Pepper powder - 1/4 tsp
Cinnammon - 1 inch pc
Nutmeg powder- 1/2 tspn

Powder the spices. Mix it to chopped garlic and onion. Tie this mixture in a cheese cloth.


Take the juice with 3/4 cup of the sugar. Dip the cloth pouch in to the juice and cook till you can smell the aroma of spices.




This will take around 20 minutes. Just stir 2/3 times in between. By this time, the syrup will start thickening. Remove the tied pouch.
Add salt, vinegar and the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar.
Boil the mixture, till it reduces to 1/3 of the original quantity.
Remove from fire.

To preserve them for a longer period, add a pinch of sodiumbenzoate to it.
I don't usually add the preservative. It stays good for more than 2 weeks on refrigeration.


This goes to Roma's Long Live Shelf event


and to The 'Food in Colors ' event started by Sunshinemom. Sunshinemom has kick started a new event starting this month to celebrate the colors in food. And she has chosen Red for the month of August.

18 comments:

  1. Wow....homemade tomato ketchup!!! Nice....
    I too always skip the "blanch and remove skin" step :-))

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  2. nice recipe..am going to try it..my mom used to make ketchups at home..

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  3. this looks nice one for the event,..nice colour too.//

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  4. never thought of making ketchup at home,.. u made me think abt it :)

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  5. Wow! Interesting. Should try this soon.

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  6. you make tomato ketchup at home? that's so nice! Looks lovely just like the store-bought.

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  7. That is one awesome looking ketchup. Great.

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  8. Jayasree..thats awesome..I remember doing this while at college..never got around making it again..i always thought homemade was much better in taste...yours look so yummy!

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  9. Thanks for dropping by. I had chilly bajjis at my site, and now visited yours for some home made ketchup! Must go elsewhere looking for pudina chutney now! :-))

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  10. The sauce bottles look stunning! Thanks for sharing this recipe with us. I am sure this tomato sauce tastes a dozen times better than the one we buy in the market.

    Thanks for participating in this event and contributing these amazing bottles to the shelf!

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  11. Jaya, that is a really flavorsome tomato ketchup, and I am glad to have them grace FIC:) Thank you! The bottled ones look store bought!

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  12. Nice and awesome ketchup.....My mom makes ketchups and sauces at home....

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  13. Homemade Ketchup...wow...colour is lovely..nice entry for the events

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  14. Wow ...reminded me of winter season,when we get lots of fresh juicy and cheap tomatoes...mom made ketchup and chutney with them...
    Yes blanching could be skipped but my personal experience says that it does effect on final outcome
    Good that urs turned out perfect without blanching:-)....u lucky fellow
    I too always avoid using benzoate salt,and whats the need....when the ketchup vanishes within few days....lolz

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  15. jayashree, thanks. I think we both have many traits common apart from our name..

    sowmya, do try and will love to know the feedback

    priyanka,thanks.

    anjali, thanks, so u will be trying right?

    nithu, thanks. Do try.

    vanamala, thanks

    uma, not too often. As I mentioned only when tomatoes r in season.

    hima, thanks

    Valli, you are right. Anything homemade always scores more than store bought.


    dibs, hope u found pudina chutney.

    roma, thanks for your lovely comment and for hosting the event.

    harini, sireesha,priti, thanks for your encouraging comments.

    alka, I used a finer seive, so the skin didnot get thro' , though it took some time for filtering. But thats mch better than sitting and peeling them.

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  16. NIce one... going 2 try it soon...
    Nice click...

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  17. This a great way to preserve tomatoes, Jayasree. Don
    I tend to cook my tomatoes the same way.:) Don't have the patience, either.

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