Home made tomato sauce (ketchup)

We recently ran out of the shop bought tomato sauce and I looked through my recipe books to see if I could find a tomato sauce recipe, especially one that didn't have sugar in it. I found one in Julie Staffords Complete Taste of Life. I bought some tomatoes from the clearance shelf at my local green grocers as the ones I have growing at home are still small and green. The recipe goes as follows:
1kg tomatoes, skinned, seeded and chopped.
1 bay leaf
6 peppercorns
6 cloves (I only had ground cloves, so used about half a teaspoon)
65ml water
black pepper to taste.


I also used the recipe from my link "A use for tomato skins". To skin the tomatoes I put them in a pot of boiling water until the skins started to come off, then transferred them to a bowl of icy water. The skins came off easily. Lay the skins out on a baking tray with baking paper and dry out in a very slow oven. You may need to leave the oven door open for the moisture to escape. I had it in the warming section of my oven while I was cooking dinner. When the skins are completely dehydrated they will be very crispy. You can grind this up, add dried basil, garlic, etc and put in a spice shaker to use as flavourings for pizzas and pasta sauces.


Anyway, back to the sauce...
Place the tomatoes, bay leaf, peppercorns, cloves and water in a saucepan and bring to the boil over a high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until the tomato is very soft. Puree by pushing through a sieve and discard the bayleaf, peppercorns and cloves (if using whole cloves). Season with black pepper. Cool and refridgerate until required.



My tips...
I have found the sauce to be very watery, not really what you want for having with your pies or in my two-year-old son's case, with your fish fingers. I think next time I will leave out the water or boil it a bit longer to make the mixture thicker.
The recipe makes about 2 1/2 cups. I have stored mine in the Tupperware sauce containers in the fridge.