Ingredients

• 1 kg. green tomatoes

• 1 medium onion

• 2 cloves garlic

• Whole spices tied in a cheese cloth or muslin. *These spices make Garam masala. If you do not have them, replace with 2 tsp. of garam masala powder

• 2 cardamoms (badi illaichi)*, cracked open

• 1/2 tsp. whole black peppers*

• 1/2 tsp. cloves*

• 1 tsp. cumin seeds*

• 1 cinnamon stick/2 inches*

• 2 bay leaves*

• Ground Spices

• A good pinch of nutmeg or Jaiphal

• 1/2 tbsp. dry mustard

• 1/2 tsp. chilli powder (optional)

• 1 tsp mixed pickling spices, optional

• Other ingredients

• 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

• 100-150 ml. malt or white vinegar, depending upon how tart your tomatoes are

• 100 gm. sugar

• 1 1/2 tbsp. salt

Instructions

1. Quarter tomatoes.

2. Cook tomatoes, onions and garlic in a pan, on medium heat, stirring from time to time, until soft. Do not add water. This recipe was written before the days of pressure cookers, but you can cook tomatoes under pressure, for 2-3 minutes. You can even cook them in a microwave.

3. Cool. If there is too much watery liquid, drain it off without pressing and loosing any of the pulp. This shortens the boiling time required to reach the correct consistency of the sauce later on.

4. Mash tomatoes/onions/garlic and strain through a sieve, to remove any skin, fibre and seeds. Discard solids in the sieve. You should have approximately 2 litres of tomato pulp.

5. Place pulp, tied spices, ground spices in a pan. Bring to boil.

6. When it begins to thicken (takes 30-40 minutes or longer), add vinegar and 1/3rd of sugar. Continue cooking until ketchup consistency is reached.

7. Add and adjust salt and sugar by tasting. Salt and sugar cause discolouration. Therefore, they are added (except 1/3 sugar) towards the end.

8. You may need to add more, if the sauce is too tart.

9. Take the spice bag out.

10. Pour while still hot into heated sterile jars/bottles and seal them.

11. Allow to cool completely. Store.

12. Also see Pickle and Chutney Selection.

Notes

• If the sauce is too thin, you can add a little corn starch dissolved in cold water towards the end of cooking. When I was young and growing up in India, I remember hearing that pumpkin pulp was added to factory made ketchup to thicken it, as well as to make it go further. I am not sure if this is true, does anyone else know?