All ketchups on store shelves look very beautiful and attractive, because they are packed in bright bags and bottles. This is a common marketing ploy. But upon closer examination, familiarization with the composition, it turns out that they are thick because an impressive dose of starch or other thickeners is added to a small amount of tomatoes, because the package labeled "natural product" contains a lot of unnatural.
The only way out is a home-made workpiece, the quality of which will never be in doubt.
Tomato paste ketchup - basic technological principles
The presence of the word "tomato" in the name of the sauce already indicates its main component. Take your time to buy tomato paste, because it may also contain more starch - not a very useful carbohydrate, instead of the concentrated content of vitamins and valuable minerals found in tomatoes. Moreover, its preparation at home will not cause much trouble, and they will be rewarded with a truly natural product.
The preparation of ketchup of the Extra category begins with the preparation of tomato paste or tomato puree. For the tomato base of the sauces, ripe tomatoes are selected, the juice is squeezed and boiled to an average consistency. Fragrant spices are added to the tomato puree. The composition of premium ketchup may include apples, onions, carrots, but not more than 7-10%. These components not only complement the taste of the sauce, but also serve as a natural thickener.
The main difference between home ketchup is that housewives never conserve starch, do not use flavor enhancers and stabilizers. Moreover, cooking and sterilization of the sauce, the presence of a whole complex of antioxidants in the composition of tomatoes, reliably and permanently preserves the product.
As for the taste, it can always be recreated by adding spices and herbs, as it is written on the favorite label, with the only difference that this taste will be created at home, on a natural basis, with love and care for the health of your loved ones.
1. Tomato paste ketchup "Chili"
Ingredients:
Ripe Tomatoes 6 kg
Chili pepper, red (without grains) 3-4 pcs.
Salt 50 g
Sugar 120 g
Vinegar 150 ml
Cooking Technology:
Sort ripe tomatoes. For the preparation of tomato paste, it is preferable to select tomatoes of fleshy varieties: they boil faster to the desired density. In order not to add water to the paste and maintain a more natural taste, cut the selected fruit into slices, mash, put in a saucepan and boil until soft. When the thickener cools down, wipe it through a sieve to remove the peel and seeds, pour the juice into the pan again, and boil thick sour cream until the consistency - this should be the density of the finished ketchup.
Add sugar and salt, chili, crushed in a blender. Cook for ten minutes, then pour in nine percent vinegar, mix and pack into warmed sterile containers - jars or bottles with a wide neck. Twist, cover. After air cooling, transfer to a cool place.
2. Ketchup from tomato paste to barbecue
Ingredients:
Natural tomato paste 1 kg
Pepper "Ratunda", peninsula 5 pcs.
Chile, red 2 pcs.
Garlic 100 g
Coriander
Clove
Walnuts 200 g
Allspice
Suneli hops
Onions 300 g
Salt 70 g
Sugar 150 g
Apple cider vinegar 100 ml
Cooking Technology:
Peel and chop arbitrarily peppers, onions and garlic. Put the roasted kernels in the blender, add the garlic to them, chop. Add pepper and onion gradually. Kill the whole mass until a homogeneous consistency and combine with tomato paste. Add boiled water if necessary. Boil the sauce for about fifteen minutes over moderate heat, stirring occasionally.
Add salt and sugar, spices to taste. After adding the spices, cook the ketchup for no more than five minutes so that their aroma does not disappear. Add the vinegar to the finished sauce, bring it to a boil again, and pour it into hot dry jars.
Ketchup can be corked with plastic lids and stored in the refrigerator.
3. Gentle Tomato Paste Ketchup
Ingredients:
Bell pepper 1 kg
Apples 0.5 kg (net)
Onion 500 g
Carrot 450 g
Tomato Paste 1.2 L
Cinnamon
Garlic 120 g
Clove
Chile
Allspice
Coriander
Sugar 250 g
Vinegar 200 ml
Salt 120 g
Celery Root 100 g
Cooking Technology:
Peel apples and vegetables, prepare mashed potatoes in any available way, using kitchen equipment. It is advisable to immediately place applesauce in an acidic environment, so wipe them with a drop of vinegar. Rub celery and carrots on a fine grater so that microparticles are not noticeable in ketchup.
Put the carrots and celery root into the pan first, boil them until soft, beat the mass with a blender, and then add the remaining components. Grind spices, add to taste.
Boil ketchup for 10-15 minutes. For long-term storage at room temperature, pour into sterile dishes and pasteurize. For use, it can be poured into dry jars and covered with plastic lids.
4. Tomato paste ketchup with provencal herbs
Ingredients:
Sugar 90 g
Wine Vinegar 75 ml
Salt 30 g
Provencal herbs (dry mix) 100 g
Tomato paste 700 g
Onions 300 g
Sweet pepper 500 g
Hot peppers (chili or cayenne) - to taste
Dried paprika 100 g
Olive oil 150 ml
Cooking Technology:
Grind the peeled onions, dried paprika and sweet red pepper to a puree consistency. In this mass, add all the ingredients except the vinegar, which must be added last. Stir, boil the mass over low heat, about ten minutes. Pour in the vinegar, mix again and pour hot into a sterile container, immediately corking.
For long-term storage at room temperature, ketchup must be pasteurized for 15 minutes (for cans or bottles, with a capacity of 0.5 l).
5. Tomato paste ketchup - an unusual recipe
Ingredients:
Cherry plum 0.5 kg
Honey 300 g
Yellow tomatoes 3 kg
Onion 250 g
Salad pepper 500 g
Ginger (fresh root) 100 g
Clove 7-8 pcs.
White pepper 40 g
Salt to taste
Lemons 1 pc.
Cooking Technology:
From yellow tomatoes, the same tomato paste is obtained as from red tomatoes. But to reduce the cooking time of ketchup, remove the seeds from the ripened cherry plum berries (even a little overripe!), Peel the onions, peppers, ginger. To preserve the intrigue in the preparation of yellow tomato ketchup, use lettuce also yellow - remove the seeds, cut it at random. Grind all ingredients thoroughly, pour the mashed potatoes into a pan and cook slowly, with constant stirring, removing the foam.
After 20 minutes, remove the pan from the stove, cool the mass, wipe through a sieve - no peel and seeds should remain in the ketchup - this is its secret. Pour the mashed potatoes into the pan again, add honey, ground spices, salt, and cook to the desired consistency. Make sure that the mass is not burnt.
Optionally, the mint or juniper flavor can be added to the sauce. Pour the hot yellow ketchup into dry hot jars, twist. Store in a cool dark place.
6. Tomato paste stew ketchup - quick and easy
Ingredients:
Quince 2 pcs.
Onion 200 g
Coriander 10 g
Clove 3 pcs.
Chile 1 ½ tsp
Salt to taste
Tomato paste 300 g
Dill seeds 15 g
Lemon 1 pc.
Sugar - to taste
Cooking Technology:
Peel the onion and quince, chop until mashed. After removing the zest from the lemon, squeeze the juice, and pour puree on it. Combine the mass with tomato paste, add sugar and salt to taste. Boil the sauce for 5-10 minutes to eliminate the raw flavor. Grind spices in a mortar, add them to ketchup at the last moment, before removing from the stove. Cover the dishes. Let the sauce brew for at least half an hour. Add the zest of fresh lemon.
The sauce can be stored in a clean and sealed jar in the refrigerator for a month. This is a universal ketchup for meat, fish and vegetable dishes. It can be prepared at any time of the year, in the presence of tomato paste, and used as necessary.
Tomato paste ketchup - useful tips and tricks
So that molds do not form on the surface of cans of tomato paste or ketchup, which happens when the cork is not sealed, heat refined vegetable oil (1-2 tbsp. Per can), cover the surface of the tomato paste with a greasy film.
From six kilograms of ripe tomatoes, meaty varieties, one kilogram of tomato paste, one and a half kilograms of mashed potatoes or tomato ketchup is obtained.
So that the spices always have a bright and rich aroma, grind them immediately before use.
Unusual and piquant taste of tomato ketchup will give dried vegetables - paprika and tomatoes. They will also help to achieve a more saturated, dark red color.
For thickening sauces there is no need to use flour or starch containing carbohydrates. In addition, with such additives there is a risk of quick spoilage of the product when it comes to preserving the sauce for the winter. An excellent thickener for ketchup is pectin, which is found in apples, currants, quinces, gooseberries. Fruits will give the sauce additional shades of taste, and will not spoil the figure, like starch.
Tomato ketchup can be prepared at any moment, having at hand your favorite spices and a can of tomato paste, and such a set of ingredients is almost always in the kitchen of every housewife. Therefore, planning to cook pizza or spaghetti, bake meat, do not rush to buy ketchup in the store. Remember that a normal sauce with spices can not be cheaper than tomato paste, which can often be seen in supermarkets.
