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Better than Heinz? How to make your own tomato ketchup

Melanie Johnson Melanie Johnson

Whether using tomatoes from your own kitchen garden, or from the shop, nothing beats home-made.

‘Sweet and warm, a good glut of homegrown tomatoes is hard to beat,’ says Melanie Johnson. We’re inclined to agree. Whether in a salad, or making a pasta sauce, or, to be honest, anything, tomatoes are a beautifully versatile fruit and should be the staple of a good kitchen garden. Of course, nothing beats a good bit of ketchup, so Melanie has kindly shared her recipe (and some chips to go with it). It’s below.

Recipe: Tomato ketchup with crinkle-cut chips

Ingredients

Makes one large bottle of sauce

  • 1.5kg fresh tomatoes
  • 1 red onion
  • ½ red pepper
  • 2 celery stalks
  • 1 carrot
  • 4 dates, halved and stoned
  • 2 sprigs rosemary
  • 4 sprigs thyme
  • ½tspn coriander seeds
  • ½tspn chilli flakes
  • 100ml extra-virgin olive oil
  • 4tbspn apple-cider vinegar
  • 1tbspn tamarind
  • 4 large ‘Maris Piper’ potatoes
  • 50ml olive oil
  • Sea salt

Method

Preheat your oven to 185˚C fan/200˚C/400˚F/gas mark 6 and line two large baking trays with foil.

Chop the tomatoes into large, even-sized chunks and arrange them on the baking tray. Chop the remaining vegetables — red onion, red pepper, celery, carrot — into similar sizes and arrange them around the tomatoes, together with the prepared dates.

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Add the rosemary, thyme, coriander seeds and chilli flakes, then pour over the olive oil and vinegar. Mix everything well, ensuring the vegetables are evenly coated, and roast for one hour, so that there are some charred corners and everything has softened.

Peel the potatoes and use a crinkle-cut cutter to make chips. Add the chips to a pan of cold water and bring to a boil. Once simmering, remove from the heat and drain well. Toss in generous glugs of olive oil and then spread over the second foil-lined tray. Roast the chips for 30 minutes (depending on thickness) or until browned and crispy. (You could also do this in an air fryer for 25 minutes at the same temperature.)

Remove the tomato-ketchup tray from the oven and transfer contents to a bullet-style blender. Add the tamarind (it adds a wonderful depth of flavour) and process until very smooth. If bits remain, pass through a fine-mesh sieve for that true, smooth ketchup consistency. Put the ketchup in a saucepan and, over a low heat, heat to reduce. How long this takes will depend on the water content in the tomatoes and, sometimes, this step may not even be necessary. Once you have reached the desired consistency, pour the sauce into a clean bottle. The ketchup will keep for up to three weeks refrigerated.

Remove the chips from the oven and sprinkle with sea salt. Serve with the freshly made tomato ketchup.