quick recipe of tomato ketchup | why packaged tomato ketchup never spoils and how it is so red?

Do you eat tomato ketchup with every meal?

Please say NO. And please ask questions about tomato ketchup.

But you know why I am asking. My heart sinks when I see huge sack like 1 kilo packs of tomato ketchup with a plastic pout on the supermarket shelves. There used to be small glass bottles of tomato ketchup when we were growing up, though we used to call it 'sauce'. And this 'sauce bottle' was taken out when there was some samosa or pakoda being fried and there was no Imli sonth ki chutney on the table. The samosas and pakodas were always served with a green chutney and a Imli sonth ki chutney, the 'sauce' came to the rescue when we ran out of Imli sonth ki chutney. Those were the days when the little dot of 'sauce' on the plate was more of a garnish and was often left untouched.

Leaving the tomato ketchup untouched was helpful once in finding out a startling fact about commercial tomato ketchup. Last year we visited Mysore and were staying at CFTRI (a CSIR unit) guest house. Arvind was on a work tour and I used to wander around town the whole day to come back in the evening and have tea with him. The guest house staff would bring some snacks with tea always and one of those days it was some pakoda with 'ketchup'. We finished chai and pakoda and the ketchup bowl kept lying on the work table in the room where I had kept some fresh fruits too. I noticed the ants kept attacking the fruits and left the ketchup untouched. See the picture I shared on my fb page back then.This piqued my interest and I told the room service guy to leave the ketchup bowl there. it kept lying there for 4 days and no ants came near it, nor the ketchup dried up. What was it made of?

Not only the ketchup is made of more synthetic ingredients than real, it has way more sugar that we perceive and eat it with all savoury foods. It causes us to eat more sugar unknowingly and also makes us eat more salt in the savoury stuff to balance out the sweetness of the ketchup. Unseen culprits these. We need to know more about why the consumption of ketchup in each family has increased manifolds.

Sometime in last 2 decades the glass bottle of ketchup started growing in size and I saw ketchup bottles that the kids couldn't handle any more. It got worse in the last few years when a large plastic pouch that looks like a sack replaced the glass bottles and people started pouring ketchup onto their plates with every single meal. Yes, unfortunately I know a few people who have it with every meal. I was horrified when my dad asked for ketchup with his paratha breakfast when he visited me few weeks back. He was never the one who ate ketchup but somehow he also got the bug. HOW?

We all know the truth. Processed food is designed to be addictive and the addiction grows. With so much sugar per serving one gets used to the sugar rush with every meal and the MSG makes everything tastier of course. Along with these we end up eating a few preservatives, emulsifiers and artificial colours too. Wouldn't we like to stop it?

Say yes please.

I got alarmed after my dad asked for ketchup honestly speaking. He is a diabetic and still thinks it is okay to have a bit of ketchup on the side. Many kids pour about 1/4 cup of ketchup with paratha or even bread, they eat everything with ketchup. Someone asked me how do you eat omelettes without ketchup?

Well, I never knew you needed ketchup for omelettes.

I only knew potato fries were dipped in ketchup just like churros were dipped in a chocolate sauce. Both were rare foods for me. Still are. Closer home it was the tip of samosa that was trickled with ketchup, the TV adverts showed us. Later the TV adverts squirted ketchup on paratha too unfortunately.

Could we choose any better?

My parents used to make their own ketchup long back but we stopped eating ketchup, most probably got bored of it. I wouldn't have posted any ketchup recipe because we simply don't eat ketchup.

Recently I was experimenting with some natural sauces and dips I was developing for a new snacks brand and just thought of mixing a few leftovers to make a ketchup of sorts. And the quick method worked wonderfully.

This ketchup needs refrigeration and stays well for 2-3 weeks easily. It can be made as sweet as the store bought ketchup but I recommend you lower the amount of honey each time you make it, just to make sure you don't end up eating too much sugar in a day.

This ketchup recipe would not make you strain tomatoes or reduce them over gas flame for hours. Just make small amounts enough for 2 weeks in about 10 minutes work and make way for healthier eating. 

Do not go by the looks, the taste is pretty close to the bottled tomato ketchup and you have the flexibility to adjust the taste as well.

ingredients..
(makes about 300 ml of ketchup, takes about 10 minutes to make and stays well for 2-3 weeks)

red ripe tomatoes 300 gm
red bell pepper 50 gm or 1/3 of one bell pepper (you can use pickling red peppers too)
carrot (orange summer carrots) 1 or 100 gm or similar amount of ripe pumpkin
kashmiri chilli powder or deghi mirch powder 1.5 tbsp
garlic powder 1 tsp
ginger powder 1 tsp
onion powder 1 tbsp
dry thyme 1 tbsp
clove powder 1/4 tsp
nutmeg powder 1/8 tsp
cinnamon powder 1 tsp
salt 1 tsp or 6 gm or to taste
olive oil 2-3 tbsp (this is to emulsify the sauce)
vinegar 3 tbsp
honey 4-5 tbsp or as sweet as you want

procedure...

Chop the tomatoes, bell pepper and carrot in small bits and pressure cook with salt. Do not add water as tomatoes have enough water. Cool down the mix.

Now transfer the boiled vegetables mix to a blender and add all the other ingredients and blend till an emulsified smooth ketchup is ready.

Fill in a clean glass bottle or squeezy bottle and refrigerate. Use as required.

If you want a more vibrant colour in your 'sauce', make this sweet chilly-ginger-tamarind sauce and see how it feels so close to the tomato ketchup you are used to. These sauces could be useful in making meals quicker sometimes, use them to make curries in a jiffy.

This homemade ketchup makes great butter chicken when converted into a gravy base. Try that.

Check out the ongoing lunch box series and give me your suggestions about making lunch boxes practical and enter a chance to win a few cute useful things for yourself.

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quick aubergine pizza : a grain free pizza that we love

There is a series of coincidences going on in my household. This weekend I was planning to bake a thin crust pizza for dinner and a neighbor couple calls and comes home. No there is no coincidence in neighbors visiting but this couple have young kids who used to come to our place long back when Mithi was alive. These kids were remembering Mithi ki mummy ka pizza and when their parents told us this, I got thinking why I had a thought of a thin crust pizza for dinner and couldn't make because of not having the home made tomato concasse ready that I use for my homemade pizzas. Nevertheless I am baking thin crust pizzas for these kids this week.

And then I was making this eggplant rollatini from World Feast and was reminded of an eggplant (aubergine) pizza that I bake sometimes and was in an impression that I have already shared it on this blog. But when I was looking for aubergine pictures in my digital clutter that the collection of my pictures is, I found these aubergine pizza pictures that were not even processed. Then I realised this aubergine pizza never made it to the blog. This aubergine pizza was made and photographed last December on a weekend, and photographed in day time. We rarely eat any kind of pizza in day time and rarely have the patience to shoot them before the cheese sets again while the pizza gets cold. That explains the absence of pizzas of all kinds on this blog except this buckwheat base pizza that I make when we have fresh rucola growing in the garden.

But none of the pizzas I bake is simpler than this one. Just slice the vegetables, layer up and bake.
No dough no distress ;-)

So coincidence or serendipity brought this aubergine pizza out of the closet and here it is. A delicious pizza can't be any better believe me. Can't be quicker either.

You just have to slice big round aubergines. Take care to use only fresh aubergines without seeds. Brush the slices with olive oil and sprinkle salt on them.

Then you slice really fresh, ripe and the most flavourful tomatoes you can get. Some sliced or minced garlic cloves, some torn basil and oregano, red chilly flakes and salt to be sprinkled. Go by your mood when deciding the quantity of seasoning and herbs. you need not sprinkle any salt over the tomatoes but go by your instinct.

Then bake for 5 minutes at 250 C in a preheated oven. Now is the time to slice some mozzarella cheese thickly and spread over the hot layers of aubergine, tomato and herbs.  Bake again for a couple of minutes till the cheese bubbles.

Serve immediately.

Bubbling stringy mozzarella cheese has a way to enhance the taste of tomatoes and aubergine. The herbs and seasonings help to get it irresistible.

You wouldn't feel the need to have a 'base' for this pizza as the aubergine slices give this pizza a stable base that holds fine. Keep the slices of aubergine a bit thick and let them cook thoroughly in the first round of baking. Sometimes I add minced red bell peppers or minced or sliced mushrooms over the tomato slice but that is not obligatory.

I have done many experiments with making a 'pizza base' using vegetables including cauliflowers, cabbage and even potato slices but the best taste was with aubergines to be honest. Although Arvind likes the potato version too.

And here is the last bit of coincidence that happened just now. I had suggested 'aubergine' as one of the vegetables to be included in the next week's meal plan of a new client of mine who is a young girl not very well acquainted with kitchen and she wrote back immediately asking for what is an 'aubergine'?

I am not joking :-)

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hot and tangy chutneys to cheer up everyday meals | a Burmese tomato chutney and a raw mung sprouts chutney recipe

Everyday meals are so much more fun when there is some fresh fiery chutney in the fridge. I mean the fresh chutneys stay fresh for a couple of days and make life easier, and tastier. Our everyday meals are mostly Indian and chutneys are my favourite way to include loads of vegetables and fiber in my food. And most chutney ingredients are high in antioxidants, Vitamins and minerals too. If I add nuts, seeds and sprouts the chutneys bring a boost to calcium intake as well. So much more worth to chutneys I say. Make your chutneys value added, include them with every meal, take second helpings and eat well. These fiery chutneys will take care of everything else.

This sesame-peanut-coconut chutney is a good supplement of daily Iron and calcium, it is a tried and tested recipe and has helped many people get back to strong bones. All the ingredients of this chutney balance the nutrient profile helping optimal absorption of nutrients as well. We can try and make all chutneys to supplement everyday meals with essential nutrients.

It was last month when my friend Promilaa Bhatia shared a Burmese tomato and peanut chutney on a food group and I wanted to make the chutney then and there. And I did, the chutney was so simple and I had all the ingredients. Also, I was alone at home that day and wanted something to wrap a multi grain roti around. This thick fiery chutney felt right and it did taste great too.

The Burmese tomato chutney was so quick to make that it barely took a 30 minute break from my desk to finish my frugal meal of a multi grain roti smeared liberally with this thick chutney and had like a quesadilla. I made the roti and blended the chutney in this time and ate it too.

Here is the recipe of this Burmese tomato chutney. The recipe makes enough chutney to last 2 meals for one. Just fry some garlic cloves in mustard oil, add to a large bowl of chopped ripe tomatoes, throw in some fiery hot chillies, some chopped coriander greens and some roasted peanuts with skin. Blend to make a coarse paste.

This chutney will make you eat it out of the blender jar. And keep eating it :-)

I had this chutney with a buckwheat crepe the next day. And I whipped up another chutney too as I was feeling chutney inspired and had some mung sprouts in the fridge. This one was blended smooth and made a refreshing accompaniment to my brunch plate.

Here is the recipe of the mung sprouts chutney.

Fry a few springs of curry leaves along with a pinch of hing and a few garlic cloves in a tbsp of sesame oil (or any oil you like). Add some sesame seeds if use any other oil. Add this tempering to loads of mung sprouts, some fresh grated coconut and chillies to taste. Blend till smooth and enjoy.

 I love these chutneys for being so power packed. Better than smoothies as I love savoury breakfasts and fruit based smoothies don't always fit into my scheme of things.

Add loads of curry patta and coconut to this mung sprout chutney and have second and third helpings. I love such chutneys with my buckwheat or amaranth dosa (savoury crepe) or even with a beans and rice meal like rajma chawal or chhole chawal.

Have you tried making chutneys with mung sprouts before? Now is the time if you haven't. Let me know if you try these two fiery yummy chutneys. Keep the chilly heat suitable to your taste and eat loads of these chutneys. You can thank me later.

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