Cherry Tomato Ketchup in Basil

Now this is a long recipe. But as they say, enjoy the journey. Won’t it be weird to find a household in the lands where you would not find ketchup. And what a pleasure it would be if you could manage to harvest all major ingredients from you own kitchen garden. Tomato sauce is a very low-calorie dip against others like mayo and actually cuts cholesterol levels improving eyesight too. As per Nat Geo, ketchup originated in Vietnam & China as being a sauce made from fermented fish. This was over 400 years back. In 1812, the ketchup made of tomatoes had its recipe first published by James Mease, who called tomatoes as love apples. Go through the below given steps. Do not miss the ingredients and/or the steps. Take full-time and care. A ketchup well made will make you enjoy for very long.

Cherry Tomatoes

Sweet Basil

Basil & Cherry Tomato Ketchup

….need to know (food details)

Number of people served : with these ingredients we can have 4 medium-sized ketchup bottles. Fantasize the number of treats !!
Preparation time : 1 hour 15 minutes

….and we need (ingredients)

Sweet basil 3 cups full : Basil is the king of the herbs. It’s a good king as well since it is very easily grown. Be it opal (purple basil), lime, cinnamon or holy (tulsi) basil, it grows super easy with cuttings or seeds. Check out my blog regarding propagation of basil by punching in basil in the search box. Sweet basil is an amazing seasoning besides having a host of health benefits like healing qualities, anti stress, anti inflammation, analgesic (pain-killer), antipyretic (anti fever), cancer fighter etc.
Cherry tomatoes 2.5 kgs : Super tasty, very sweet and loved by all kids, cherry tomatoes grow easily in containers. Check out how to grow them by punching “cherry tomatoes” in the search box. They add a great color to the ketchup besides ketchup being high on potassium content and keeping your calories under control
Sugar 2 cups : Discounting high energy that it provides, the sugar here acts as sweetening agent in the ketchup. Just use common white sugar available at any store.
Chillies 1 cup : Chillies have good Vitamin A, E and K and are good for eyes, skin and digestion. Here we use them for the tongue cutting Xing. I pluck them from my terrace garden in need, can also be picked round the year at grocers.
Salt 2 tablespoon : Most foods are not complete without salt. They maintain the electrolyte balance with suitable amounts of magnesium, potassium, calcium and sodium. Do not vary the quantity in this one. Just trust the G-man on this.
Preservative 2 teaspoon : Add some sodium benzoate and that’ll increase the shelf life of your ketchup to 18 months.
Ginger 1 and 1/2 teaspoon : Probably the most famous Asian spice ginger is also famous in Oceania and Caribbean and brings out the woody and pungent aroma. Benefits of ginger accrue from relieving throat infections, pain and nausea.
Onions 3/4th cup : Strong, acidic and bitter. That’s what a good red onion is supposed to be. They are also good sources of Vitamin C and Iron and are good for hair, skin and help in weight-loss.
Cinnamon 3 inch : A sweet, fragrant and spicy taste enhancer. Cinnamon is a good antioxidant, anti inflammatory, controls blood sugar and enhances brain function.
Cloves 6-7 : Tastes pungent, sweet, strong, bitter and astringent, cloves aid in respiration, reduces pain and inflammation and fights infections. There’s no mart in south Asia that wouldn’t have cloves and cinnamon.
Black pepper 2 teaspoon : Pepper improves respiration, digestion and cognitive functions of the brain. It brings sharp, pungent flavor to our ketchup.
Garlic 4 teaspoon : Chopped garlic would bring a sharp, hot and pungent taste here along with the cold fighting, disease curing, cholesterol and blood pressure controlling properties.
Cumin 1 and 1/2 teaspoon : One of the most popular musky and earthy spices, cumin also enhances respiration, immunity, diabetes control and has anti viral, anti bacterial properties.
Cardamom green 3 : Minty and tropical flavor of cardamom is accompanied by benefits like gastrointestinal protection, cholesterol protection and blood circulation control in the body. Always break and grind pepper, cumin and cardamom for best flavors.

….time to cook ‘n roll (cooking instructions)

Wash and mash the tomatoes. Then grind them finely into a puree
Potli : Make a pouch or a potli (in hindi) of a fine sieving muslin cloth. Should be fine porous enough for flavors to completely pass through holding back just the bigger particles. Grind cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, cumin and pepper and tie this mixture in the potli.
Heat a skillet on medium heat and after 2 minutes add the tomato puree. Cook this puree for 5 minutes and then drop in the potli in this to mix well.
Now add Onions, ginger, garlic and basil along with 1/3rd sugar (i.e. 1/3rd of 2 cups). Mix well and cook stirring for 5 to 7 minutes.
Now add salt and chillies and cook till the ketchup reduces to half. Cook on medium flame. The time for this would vary from 20 to 25 minutes.
Now add the rest of the sugar and cook till the water dries up and separates completely. To check this stage, you can conduct a simple kitchen trick called the plate slide test.
Plate Slide Test : In this drop half a spoon of ketchup at the center of the plate. Now tilt the plate to 45 degrees. If the water flows out of the same, it needs further cooking. If the ketchup sticks together, then we are through with the cooking and can move on.
Now take it off the flame and squeeze all possible flavor from the potli to the ketchup and discard the potli.
Allow the ketchup to cool now. Bring it at room temperature. Do not hurry up by refrigerating.
Meanwhile, add the sodium benzoate (the preservative) to some water to form a mild solution and add this solution to the now cooled down sauce.
Sterilize some bottles properly and wash dry them amply. Now fill the ketchup in them to use and store.
Finally : Dip ! Lick ! Slurp !!