Tomato Sauce
Tomato Sauce is a staple item in most of the households. Made with fresh tomatoes during the season it is surely a better option that store bought ones.
Servings: 1.5 kg sauce
Ingredients
- 3 kg ripe tomatoes washed
- 100 gram onions cleaned
- 25 gram garlic cleaned
- 60 gram ginger cleaned
- 250 gram sugar granulated
- 30 gram all spice powder garam masala
- 15 gram red chili powder
- to taste salt
- 2 bayleaves tejpat
- 2 cloves laung
- 2 big cardamoms badi elaichi
- 1 stick cinnamon dalchini
- 5-6 black peppercorns sabut kali mirch
Instructions
- Pressure cook or boil in a large vessel, all the tomatoes, onion, garlic and ginger. Do not add water or cut tomatoes. When the tomatoes are soft and have released water on their own, remove them from the flame. Set aside to cool.
- In the meanwhile, take a small handkerchief sized muslin or Japanese tea bag holder and place whole spices (bayleaf, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon and peppercorns). Fold the corners of the muslin and form a small 'potli'/ pouch. Set aside.
- When the tomato mixture is cool, grind it into a paste and strain it out leaving out all the seeds and skin. Take a big vessel and pour the strained tomato puree into it. Add remaining spices - salt, garam masala, sugar and red chili powder. Also add the whole spices potli/ pouch to the puree mixture. Mix well and allow it to cook till it is reduced to almost half the original amount. The consistency should be thick. To test if it has reached desired consistency, place a drop of sauce on a small plate, if no water is oozed out from that drop, then the sauce is cooked perfectly. If any water is still remaining then continue cooking till the water test shows no water oozing out from the drop.
- Allow it to cool down completely and then pour into clean jars. Refrigerate and use when required.
Notes
I have not added any preservative and simply refrigerated. But if you intend to make a bigger batch and use over a longer period of time, then I suggest adding citric acid to preserve.