This is not the kind of sauce that you have with pasta, this is the tomato sauce that goes on the table for a BBQ. It is also fantastic served as a condiment with grilled sausages and meats, as well as cold cooked meats such as lamb or beef. In fact my sister, Sonnie, even loves it on eggs.
Actually this is the only tomato sauce we knew when we were growing up! It was always made with an additive called Ezi-Sauce that contained all the spices etc, but you needed 9kg of tomatoes and an enormous preserving pan! I normally only wanted to make a half batch and would end up wasting half of the bottle of Ezi-Sauce.
In any case I wanted to make the sauce with my own blend of spices rather than a commercially prepared additive. This gave me the opportunity to create a recipe using smaller quantities of tomatoes, however it had to match the flavour of the sauce we loved so much.
- 3 kg ripe tomatoes
- 500 g brown onions peeled
- 300 g cooking apples cored
- 35 g garlic peeled
- 1 heaped tsp ground ginger mixed to a paste with a little water
- 1/2 tsp ground black peppercorns
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp ground allspice
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 2 1/2 cups cider vinegar
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 tbsp salt
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Roughly chop tomatoes, apples, onions and garlic.
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Place into a large saucepan with the ginger paste.
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Slowly bring to the boil over a medium heat, stirring regularly until the juices form.
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Boil gently for four (4) hours, stirring occasionally.
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Strain through a course sieve or sauce strainer (epepineuse/mouli). Discard the skin and seeds.
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Return the puree to a large, clean pan.
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Blend the spices and sugar together and add to the puree together with the salt and cider vinegar.
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Bring to the boil, and boil gently for approximately one hour, or until the sauce has reached a thick pouring consistency.
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Fill into warm sterilised bottles and seal.
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When cool, lable and store in a dark, cool place.
The sauce will keep for one year unopened.