Amazing Syn Free Organic Roasted Tomato Ketchup With Chilli

For anyone following Slimming World like me, or trying to reduce their calorie and sugar in take, this is the ketchup for you! Of course there is fructose sugar naturally found in tomatoes, but this recipe calls for ZERO added sugar, significantly reducing the calories compared to traditional store-bought ketchup. It also tastes absolutely supreme, and it's really easy to make i promise! I hope you enjoy it, and it will also reduce your plastic use because you can put your ketchup in a reusable bottle instead of buying and chucking packaging regularly.

I've listed all ingredients in Step 1 & 2.

Equipment you will need is:

An oven

A large baking tray

A chopping board

A knife

Measuring spoons

A measuring jug

A blender/stick blender/food processor

A spatula or spoon

A sieve

A bowl

A storage container (i.e. cleaned ketchup bottle)

Step 1: Step 1: ...Get Picking!

If like me you grow your own tomatoes, the first thing to do is get harvesting! I grow mixed varieties of cherry and salad tomatoes, so chuck them all together for an eclectic vibe to your ketchup! I also picked one chilli, it's a jalapeno - you could leave it out if you're not a fan, or bung a few more in for a ketchup which packs a punch. Wash your crop in fresh clean water, and lay them out in your baking tray. Large tomatoes will need chopping up just to make sure they get evenly roasted, and slice your chilli once down the centre too. I didn't weigh out my tomatoes, but you can see they pretty much fill my baking tray in a single layer. Spray your tomatoes with frylight (or oil if you aren't bothered about making it syn free) and season well wil slat and pepper. Then pop them into the oven on 180 degrees for about 45 minutes or until they go all dark and roasty. Yum!

Step 2: Step 2: Meanwhile...

Ok, your tomatoes are roasting, now you have the time to get the rest of your ingredients together! Into a large sauce pan, you will need to add:

2 diced onions (I like red ones but it's up to you)

3 tbsp golden Sukrin (or other zero calorie sweetener)

2 tsp garlic salt

80 ml balsamic vinegar (this darkens the colour so use white balsamic if you want a brighter red ketchup)

120 ml white wine vinegar

2 tbsp mushroom ketchup (or Worcestershire sauce)

2 tsp ground pepper

2 tsp ground cinnanmon

2 tsp mustard powder

2 tsp garlic paste (or 2 cloves of garlic)

1 tbsp tomato puree

Mix ingredients together in the pan, and heat to a gentle simmer stirring occasionally for about 20-25 minutes.

Step 3: Step 3: Add the Roasted Tomatoes!

When your tomatoes look lovely and roastey, take them out of the oven and slop them into your saucepan with the simmered liquid - beware of the steam, it's very vinegary!!

Chances are, there's a few bits of tomato left in your baking tray which still have lots of flavour! add a little water and "encourage" it round your baking tray with a wooden spoon or spatula to float off all the leftover roastyness. Pour this liquid into your pan (i had to do this twice as I had a few stubborn bits!)

Continue to simmer your pan of ingredients for another 10 minutes or so, stirring often.

Step 4: Step 4: Blending

This is where your ketchup begins to appear! Your ingredients should have reduced the liquid by now to look like the picture here (the lumpy picture NOT the smooth picture!) If yours looks for watery be patient and keep it simmering to reduce further - otherwise your ketchup will be too thin and soupy. When you do get your ingredients reduced enough, it's time to blend! You can do this however you like - I used a stick blender because washing up annoys me, but you could use a blender, or probably even a food processor if you want to. It is impotant not to skip this step though as you release more flavour by blending for a super tasty result!

Step 5: Step 5: Sieving

Ok, this is where your ketchup is born!

Place your sieve over the top of a clean bowl/pan/bucket/etc.and pour your blended ingredients though a little at a time. you will probably need to push it through the sieve (I used a silicone spatula) and you will see the seeds from your ingredients and some of the tomato and chilli skins left behind - transfer these to the compost bin before you add more sauce to the sieve. Once all your ingredients are successfully sieved, your ketchup will be in the bowl below! Simple! It will still be hot and therefore a little looser than it's final texture, but at this stage it is useful to decant the ketchup into the container you want to use for storing it in your fridge (I re-used an old plastic ketchup bottle using a funnel as it's handy to serve from and leak proof).

Wait until your ketchup has cooled to room temperature before labelling and transferring to the fridge. It will keep for up to 2 weeks, though mine has never lasted that long!

I hope you enjoy and experiment with different flavour combos - it's a lovely addition to almost any meal!