Search This Blog

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

A saucy post

Tomatoes are going cheap in Sri Lanka (Rs.20 a kilo. ) and I decided to make us some tomato sauce. I surfed the net and fund several, some using only tomatoes and vinegar and some using even carrots and onions. When I told my mother this, she said she had a tried and tested reipe given out by our local Agriculture Department in Gannoruwa. It had a lot of spices and even powdered red chillie, so I decided this will be more in keeping with our taste and decided to go for it. Here is the recipe:

Spicy Sri Lankan Tomato Sauce recipe

1 1/2 Kg ripe tomatoes
1 cup vinegar
50g Tamarind
4tsp dried red chillie powder
150g- 200g sugar
Salt
Celery chopped
grind the following on a grinding stone or wet grinder:
2 cloves garlic
1 inch piece ginger
Tie the following in a clean piece of cotton cloth :
2 inch piece cinnamon
10 peppercorns
10 cloves

Method:
1. Wash tomatoes well and blend in an electric blender (with skins on). Sieve into heavy bottomed pan.
2. Dissolve tamarind in some of the vinegar and pour into the tomato juice in te pan.
3. Add the ground ginger , garlic , chillie powder, the rest of the vinegar and the spices tied in te piece of cloth into the tomato mix.
4. Put on fire and bring to boil always stirring with a wooden spoon to avoid clumps.  (You can see my spice bag in the centre of the sauce.)
 

 5. Add the sugar and salt to taste. You may adjust the seasoning to your taste. (these quantities give a very rich, spicy and hot hot sauce-very much Sri Lankan)
6. Simmer for about 30-40mins till thick. Remember to stir frequently.
7. Add the celery when it is almost ready to be taken off the fire. You may remove the celery pieces once the sauce has cooled.




This is my bottle of sauce. Yields about 750ml of sauce. Can keep in the refrigerator for some time (I can't tell you exctly how long. Mine has been there for about a week and is still good) 

Enjoy your homemade, no preservative sauce with fried fish/ pizza, noodles, rice-with just anything you wish! This has a well balanced taste of tanginess, sweetness and chillie.

I also made a handkerchief dress for my 4 year old niece.




That's all for now. I also warmly welcome Helen and the 7of us to my blog. I am so happy you are here! Maybe that's a reason for my quite frequent posts!!!
Take care,
Dhilma

2 comments:

  1. Next time I see tomatoes going cheaply I will do this recipe, it sounds delicious!
    And next time we come to SL we will definitely do our best to visit your guest house, the place we stayed in Kandy was not nearly so pleasant.
    Today I have made a muslin of the bodice of a dress, happily I need to make it again a couple of sizes smaller :). It's for the two weddings we have been invited to this Spring. I was thinking of wearing a sari but the children were not keen!! Plus I don't have a blouse that fits me these days :(
    Helen

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Helen, Hope you try the tomato sauce! We've just finished ours. And you will be warmly welcomed at Peace haven :-) And also why not wear the Kandyan sari? If you happen to have a little baby fat on you that is the ideal local dress. It gives a lady a very distinguished and maidenly appearance. It is different to the Indian way of draping the sari. I will try to do a post on draping one if time permits. But ofcourse you need a well fitting sari jacket. Maybe next time you visit SL you can have some done :-)

    ReplyDelete