Hi and welcome to The Vegan Corner.
Today's recipe is about a sauce that we all know pretty well.
That's right, you are quite smart and you read the title,
so you already know that we are talking about the marvellous and super delicious Ketchup.
Recipes for ketchup are usually cursed,
as everybody who tries to make this sauce from scratch,
tends to compare the resulting ketchup with Heinz ketchup,
which is the standard one we all know and seem to settle for.
However, what we tried to achieve here
is a sauce that is not only healthier than any of the store-bought counterparts,
but it also sure to taste as delicious as any other ketchup you like to enjoy.
We're sure you'll be surprised by the result of this recipe.
You can find the ingredients needed to make it, in the description below the video.
Quite surprisingly, the first ingredients we are going to be dealing with are tomatoes.
Add the tinned and fresh tomatoes to the blender's jug,
and process them at medium speed until properly combined.
If you have spot-on and perfectly ripe fresh tomatoes
you are free to use only them and skip the tinned tomatoes altogether,
or alternatively, you can use only tinned tomatoes
and skip the fresh ones, your choice!
As you can imagine, using fresh or tinned
will make quite a big difference on the final ketchup.
Personally, we like to use both to obtain a more balanced final flavour.
Now strain the tomato juice to remove all the tomato seeds and skins,
which you definitely don't want in you final sauce.
We are using a superbag here, as usual,
but feel free to use a nut-milk bag,
or simply a fine mesh strainer for this task.
Now place all the ingredients into your favourite pan,
apart from the vinegar, the salt and the gelling agent,
which will be needed at the end of the cooking process.
We like to remove the head from the clove,
as it is excessively powerful
and will end up making the final ketchup taste of clove only.
Add the previously prepared tomato juice to the pan
and stir well to combine the ingredients.
Now, turn on the heat on high and bring the sauce to a boil.
As soon as the sauce starts boiling,
lower the heat to the minimum and start counting the cooking time.
There is no specific cooking time for this recipe,
as it really depends upon how watery your tomatoes are.
However, Ketchup is generally ready in 40 to 60 minutes.
Cook the sauce for 10 minutes on the lowest heat,
so that the excess water evaporates.
Once the first 10 minutes are elapsed,
stir the sauce well and cook it for another 10 minutes on the lowest heat,
and so on.
There is really nothing complicated here,
simply set a timer every 10 minutes
so that you don't forget the sauce on the stove.
Unless of course you are trying to prepare
burned concentrated tomatoes instead of ketchup,
and if that's the case
then you're doing great by leaving the ketchup on the stove
for a few hours without checking on it.
Although there is a slight chance it will explode all over the kitchen.
So we'd just stick to our method.
Once you have repeated this process for 4 or 5 times,
40 to 50 minutes of total cooking time,
you will end up with something like this:
a thick and very aromatic tomato sauce.
Now add the gelling agent mixed with a touch of water,
the vinegar, the salt, if desired,
and stir well to combine.
At this point also remember to remove the clove from the pan.
Bring the sauce back to a simmer over a medium heat,
lower the heat to the minimum and cook for the last 10 minutes to complete the sauce.
As you probably already know, thick tomato sauce tends to bubble violently,
so to avoid burning yourself and turning the kitchen into a war zone,
make sure to use a splatter guard if you feel it is needed.
Now let the sauce cool down completely before blending it
using your preferred piece of equipment.
In this case, we felt that a stick blender works best,
but you can also use a regular blender if you so desire.
And here you have Miriam playing with our favourite ketchup.
Mum always said to not play with food,
but she never said anything about decorating with it!
We strongly recommend you to give this recipe a go
and let us know if you liked it.
We are sure you will be amazed by the final result!
Many thanks for watching, and if you liked this ketchup,
please give it a thumbs up as it would be very happy about that.
Ketchup is a very appreciative chap after all!
Thanks and we'll see you at the next recipe.