Ketchup in recent years has become a very popular sauce on the daily menu of most people. This was largely due to its universal taste, which blends perfectly with many products, ranging from pasta and cereals to meat and fish. However, much tastier than what is sold in stores is home-made ketchup , which, in addition, contains only natural ingredients.
It is well preserved, so it can be eaten regardless of the time of year. It perfectly complements almost any dish.
There are several recipes for making ketchup at home. In this case, in any case, tomatoes will serve as the basis, and it is on them that the taste qualities of the finished dish depend. Vegetables should be ripe and juicy, but not overripe and unspoiled. Five kilograms of tomatoes will need 4 medium onions and 3 pieces of sweet bell pepper. Tomatoes are poured with hot water, after which the peel is peeled from them, they are cut into small slices and placed in prepared dishes (you can take a cauldron for this purpose, since its thick walls will prevent vegetables from burning during long cooking). It also puts peeled and chopped onion rings, peppers, from which all seeds are previously removed.
The vegetable mixture is put on fire, brought to a boil and cooked under the lid for 3 hours at low temperature. After that, it cools and rubbed through a sieve or crushed with a blender. The resulting mass is again brought to a boil, 2-3 tbsp. Are put here. l salt, sugar (one and a half glasses). You can also add spices, which are chosen to taste in home ketchup. In most cases, they use black pepper, cumin, coriander, cloves, etc. It is recommended that you do not cut the greens, but put them in a bunch for several minutes so that the dish is saturated with aroma, and then removed. After this, the dishes with tomato are left on the fire for another 3 hours. All water should evaporate after cooking. After this, half a glass of vinegar is poured here (it is better to use 9%), the mixture is brought to a boil, poured into sterilized glass jars and sealed. Some housewives prefer to add homemade apple to ketchup, which gives the sauce a certain acidity.
You can use the following recipe. Juice is made from 2 kg of tomato (for this, you can take a juicer or grind them through a sieve, previously steaming). 2 medium-sized onions are grated, put in the sauce along with bay leaves. Those who do not like home-made ketchup with visible impregnations can put this and other spices in a gauze bag, which, after cooking, is pulled out and wrung out, giving its taste to the dish. Next, the mixture is brought to a boil, 2 teaspoons of salt and a half cup of sugar are put in it, a pinch of black pepper (the amount is determined by taste). Everything is boiled for about an hour. After this time has passed, cloves (crushed into fine powder), coriander or caraway seeds are added here. The mixture is boiled for another 10 minutes, poured on sterile dishes.
It should be noted that preparing ketchup at home is not a big deal. Moreover, the result, most often, is much higher in taste and other qualities than the purchased product. Some housewives put mustard, bitter pepper, ground nuts and other additives here, depending on their taste preferences. The original taste is this dish with the addition of grapes or other berries. To do this, they are laid during cooking simultaneously with tomatoes. After softening, everything is rubbed through a sieve, and salt, sugar, and spices are added here. The longer the mixture remains on fire, the thicker the sauce will turn out, however, you must ensure that the vegetables do not burn.