By Martha Rose Shulman
- Total Time
- About 2 hours 20 minutes
- Rating
- 5(50)
- Notes
- Read community notes
This sauce is a tomato jam that tastes more like a richly spiced ketchup. A long simmer is important. This is inspired by a recipe for a delicious tomato jam in the chef Matthew Kenney’s cookbook, “Matthew Kenney’s Mediterranean Cooking.” My version is not as sweet as his; I decided to call it ketchup rather than jam because to me, it tastes like a richly spiced ketchup, with sweet and sour flavors and a little kick from the cayenne. A long simmer is important for cooking the sauce to the right consistency and for concentrating the flavors. After that, I put the ketchup through a food mill to achieve smoother texture, but that step is optional. I salt toward the end of cooking because the mix will reduce quite a lot and it’s too easy to oversalt if you salt before that happens. However, be sure to use enough salt to balance out the sweetness and bring out the spice.
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Ingredients
Yield:Makes 1⅔ cups
- 2tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1tablespoon minced ginger
- 2large garlic cloves, minced
- ¼cup cider vinegar
- ¼cup packed brown sugar
- 2pounds tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced or pulsed to a coarse purée in a food processor
- 1teaspoon cumin seeds, lightly toasted and ground
- ½teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 8allspice berries, ground (½ teaspoon)
- 2cloves, ground
- ⅛teaspoon cayenne
- Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
- 1tablespoon mild honey, such as clover
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (3.333333333333333 servings)
218 calories; 9 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 6 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 35 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams dietary fiber; 29 grams sugars; 3 grams protein; 764 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
Step
1
Heat olive oil over low heat in a heavy-bottom saucepan. Add ginger and garlic cloves and cook, stirring, until fragrant but not browned, about 1 minute. Add vinegar, turn up the heat and reduce volume by half, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add sugar and stir until it has dissolved in the vinegar. Add tomatoes and spices (but not salt), bring to a simmer, reduce heat to very low, cover partly and simmer slowly until mix has reduced to a thick purée and there is little liquid in the pan, about 1 hour 45 minutes. Uncover and continue to simmer until all the liquid has cooked off, about 15 minutes.
Step
2
Season to taste with salt and pepper and stir in honey. Continue to simmer, stirring, until mix is shiny, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Taste and adjust salt. Transfer to a jar and refrigerate if not using right away. Serve at room temperature as an accompaniment to fish, chicken, meat or vegetables; spread it on bread; or use as a sandwich condiment.
Optional step: Before or after the mix cools, put through the fine blade of a food mill.
- Advance preparation: The ketchup will keep for a couple of weeks in the refrigerator.
Ratings
5
out of 5
50
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Cooking Notes
bret H
Also wanted to add, if you put through food mill at end, no need to process tomatoes in blender before that. Just cut up into chunks and cook.
Michael S
I made this with a can of high-quality roma tomatoes and it came out great.It's important to stir during the simmer, to prevent burning.
Chicago Kelly
Put this through a food mill and it came out the consistency of ketchup. Used up a ton of late season tomatoes. A little sweet but with a kick. Awesome. We all loved it and plan to dip lots of things in it!
Dan Urbach
This was excellent with roast pork, as a tomato chutney. It's overwhelming (unless used sparingly) for a beef hamburger. Next time I'll make it somewhat less sweet.
bret H
Fantastic. Great way for me to use up tomatoes from the garden. I used a mix of Roma, beefsteak and cherry. Reduction took awhile as others commented, but totally worth it.
bret H
Also wanted to add, if you put through food mill at end, no need to process tomatoes in blender before that. Just cut up into chunks and cook.
CarolL
Good. Not quite sure how I'm going to use it. Tonight I'm going to put a little on top of fresh tuna and we'll see. Took a long, long time to cook down. My heat was probably lower than it should have been.
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