Homemade ketchup

This ketchup is our traditional family recipe, and it turns out a bit different every time. Depending on the type of tomatoes, sugar, and vinegar we use and also how many and what kind of chilies we use. However, the process of making it is always the same. It could take an entire day to make it, but we keep taking our turns in chopping and stirring.

I made this as a contribution to Christine Wong’s  #plasticfreefoodie E-magazine (vol 2), which is  a compilation of recipes and tips on how to cook and live plastic-free. The aim of the magazine is to raise money to preserve and clean our oceans for the Plastic Oceans and Lonely Whale initiatives (100% of the proceeds will be donated to them). I encourage everyone to purchase both volumes, not only will you get great recipes and tips, you will also support great causes with each purchase.

ON SALE AT https://payhip.com/b/XrKi

All of the ingredients used for my ketchup were either packed in a glass jar or a paper bag and most came from our garden and this recipe is therefore fully plastic-free. I used sweet potatoes from Riverdale Organic Farm for my sweet potato chips, Abel and Cole purple carrots for my crispy carrot sticks, and the potatoes were from my own garden. I cut out bits of the potatoes with sprouts and planted them in flower pots in my little urban garden.

 

 

Recipe:

 

Ingredients list:

3kg (106 oz) tomatoes

6 pc red or mixed peppers

6 apples

2 handfuls of celeriac stalks with leaves (or leafy parts of celery sticks)

1-3 chili peppers (this depends on how spicy you want your ketchup to be)

½ kg (18 oz) onions

2 ½ Tbs  unrefined sea salt

½ – 1 cup unrefined brown sugar (this depends on how sweet your tomatoes are and how sweet you want your ketchup to be)

2 ¼ cups apple cider vinegar (Biona)

2 muscat nuts (ground)

2 tsp ground cinnamon (Steenbergs)

1 ½ tsp paprika

5 pc cloves

2 large carrots

1 generous handful of parsley

 

Process:

Clean and chop all of the fruit and vegetables (grate the carrots and leave the celeriac and parsley whole) and place them in a large pot. Stir frequently and cook for about 1 1/2 hours, until everything is soft.

Take out the leaves and blend everything together with a hand held plunge blender. Strain the blended mixture with a manual stainless steel strainer or push it through a stainless steel sieve. To not waste anything, you can make patties from the pulp or freeze them for later.

Add all of the remaining ingredients, except the sugar, and cook while stirring regularly for about 2 hours. Next, taste it see how sweet you want your ketchup to be and add the sugar accordingly. Cook for a further 2 hours or until the ketchup becomes thick to your liking. The more you cook, thicker it gets.

Pour into clean glass jars while still hot and tighten lids immediately.

Making your own ketchup is rather time consuming, but to me, it is a lovely family affair, when everyone takes their turn to stir.

Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

This delicious chocolate cake has no refined sugar, dairy or gluten. I made it using just a bit of coconut sugar, erythritol and maple syrup, with the main ingredients being nuts and tofu!

 

Recipe:

I first greased my pie dish with some Nutiva coconut oil and sprinkled it with ground almonds from Wholefoods, while I was preheating the oven to 170 degrees C (340 degrees F).

 

Crust:

I combined the following first with a hand held mixer and then with my hands:
1/4 cup coconut sugar Sevenhills Wholefoods
1/4 cup erythritol
1/4 cup coconut flour Sukrin
1/4 cup raw cacao powder Aduna
1/4 cup pure almond butter Meridian
4 tsp melted coconut oil Nutiva
1 tsp pure vanilla extract Wholefoods
1 flax egg (1 Tbs of ground flax seed and 3 Tbs of water mixed together and set aside for about 10 minutes).
I pressed the mixture up the sides and over the bottom of the pie dish. Then I baked it for 12 minutes and left it to cool down for 30 minutes.

 

Chocolate peanut butter filling:

I placed the following ingredients in a freestanding mixer:
1 package of silken tofu; drained Clearspring ( 290g or about 1,2 oz)
1 bar (100g) Green&Blacks 85% chocolate melted in a double boiler together with 1 tsp of salt Cornish Sea Salt and 1 tsp of pure vanilla extract Waitrose
1/2 cup of smooth pure peanut butter Meridian
1/2 cup of maple syrup
2 Tbs of freshly made cashew milk.
After everything was well combined and the texture became really smooth, I placed the pie in the refrigerator for an hour while I was making the nest and the eggs.


As chocolate contains important nutrients it should be included in our diet. It is, however,  better for us to eat it earlier in the day!

Chocolate Nest:

Recipe:

50g of  Green&Blacks 85% chocolate
1 cup of quinoa pops
1 cup of shredded coconut Wholefoods
I melted the chocolate, mixed in the coconut and the pops. Then I pressed it in a bowl to form a nest and refrigerated for 2 hours.

Cashew Easter eggs:

1/2 cup of soaked cashew nuts
1/2 cup of shredded coconut
2 Tbs of maple syrup
lime juice  from 1/2 lime
1/4 tsp of fresh vanilla
I mixed everything together and placed in the freezer for an hour before making the eggs.

 

Chocolate and hazelnut Easter Eggs:

1/2 cup of soaked hazelnuts
2 Tbs of  Aduna raw cacao powder
2 Tbs of date syrup Meridianpinch of Himalayan salt
1/4 tsp of fresh vanilla


Again, I placed the mixture in the freezer for an hour and then rolled the eggs in matcha powder, beetroot powder and raw cacao.

I made quite few of the eggs and whatever did not fit in to the nest, I just enjoyed as a little treat.