This summer has produced a fabulous amount of tomatoes in my greenhouse. We have been eating fresh organic tomatoes in our salads all summer long. But about 3 weeks ago, I just couldn’t keep up with the bumper crop, so I took to slow roasting my tom’s at 50 degrees for 2 hours in the oven with garlic and olive oil, and then freezing them for sauce later on in the year. We ate tomato pasta…tomato tarts..and finally I also made two large batches of tomato ketchup, one yellow and a classic red. And they are amazing!

This homemade tomato ketchup recipe is sweet, tangy and very aromatic. Adding star anise, cloves and fennel seeds makes this ketchup sit in a league of its own. Since making this delicious condiment, I’ve been looking for excuses to make all kinds of breakfast eggs, just so we can have more of this wonder sauce! And of course you can add it to veggie burgers, hot dogs and other things too. But it is best served over eggs, with hot coffee, homemade bread and two of your best friends.

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Ingredients

Makes 4 bottles

1 large onion, peeled and roughly chopped

a dash of olive oil

1 thumb-sized piece fresh ginger, roughly chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

½ fresh red chilli, de-seeded and finely chopped

1 large bunch organic basil, chopped, including stalks

1 tbsp coriander seeds

2 cloves

1 star anise

1 tsp fennel seeds

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 tsp sea salt

1 kg home-grown or organic tomatoes, chopped

200 ml red wine vinegar

70 g brown sugar

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Sweat the onion in a little oil in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan for 2-3 minutes. Next add the ginger, garlic, star anise, fennel seeds, chilli, basil stalks, coriander seeds and cloves.

Gently cook on low heat for 10 to 15 minutes until softened, stirring every so often.

Now add the tomatoes and cold water.

Bring to the boil and simmer gently until the sauce reduces by half. This will take 30-35 min. Stir once in a while to ensure the sauce does not stick.

Add the basil leaves, then blitz the sauce using a hand blender, then push it through a sieve, to make a smooth ketchup.

Pour back into the pan.

Now add the vinegar and the sugar, stirring until the sugar is completely dissolved.

Turn up the heat to medium and simmer until it thickens. Now season with salt and pepper.

Pour the ketchup through a funnel into sterilized bottles, seal and place in a cool dark place until needed.