Homemade Adult Tomato Ketchup

Since we don’t have any children in the house ketchup is a not a staple item in my pantry. Sometimes I will see a recipe that I want to make that calls for ketchup and I ignore it since I don’t want to buy a bottle for a few tablespoons. I decided to make my own today. This is combination of a few recipes tweaked to suit what my family likes. I knew the ketchup had to be sweetened with agave since I am trying to avoid sugar.

If you just read the part about sugar and wondered if this is related to cancer, in fact it is. Not long ago I read that a Nobel Prize for Medicine had been given to a German biologist Otto Heinrich Warburg in 1931 for his discovery that the metabolism of malignant tumors was largely dependent on glucose consumption. Glucose is the form digested sugar takes in the body. All high glycemic foods become glucose in the body. I try to remind myself of this when I am offered white bread or rice, and anything loaded with sugar. I don’t like these foods enough to increase my risk of cancer.

This is a more adult version of ketchup, not so cloyingly sweet and with more spice than store bought brands.

Homemade Ketchup
makes about 1 1/3 cups

Ingredients:

15 ounce can of organic tomato sauce
¼ cup of apple cider vinegar
¼ cup of agave
1 teaspoon black pepper corns, ground
1 pinch, allspice berries, ground
1 pinch cloves, ground
2 tablespoons of granulated garlic
2 tablespoons of granulated onion
1 teaspoon of cinnamon

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a heavy bottomed pan and simmer until it is reduced by a third. Refrigerate or freeze until you are ready to use it.

Comments:

I love the interesting spicy flavor of this ketchup. The allspice and cloves are particularly vibrant in this ketchup. I wouldn’t recommend that try this out on your children; I don’t think it tastes a bit like Heinz. Next time I may add a canned chipotle to this and make chipotle ketchup.

Homemade Harissa

Harissa is a hot chili paste used in North African cooking. The level of heat depends on the dried chilies you use, and whether you leave the seeds in the chilies or not. We like a lot of heat at our house so we use hot chilies and leave in the seeds. If you are less tolerant of heat can always use less of the Harissa, or blend in other mild or sweet peppers to reduce the heat.

The capsaicin in the chili pepper is said to increase the bodies blood clot dissolving system, open up sinuses, and break up mucus in the lungs. Chili peppers are also antibacterial, and high in antioxidants. It has been reported that consuming chili speeds up the bodies metabolism. I eat harissa because I like the taste and the heat. It is nice to know that it is good for me too.

Homemade Harissa
makes about a cup

Ingredients:

1 ounce of dried chili peppers
6 cloves of garlic
½ teaspoon kosher salt
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon coriander, toasted and freshly ground
1 teaspoon cumin, toasted and freshly ground
1 teaspoon fennel seed, toasted and freshly ground
additional olive oil to cover Harissa in the jar

Directions:

Place chili peppers in pan and cover with cold water. Bring water to a boil and simmer for 2 minutes. Turn off heat and put the lid on the pan. Allow the peppers to steep in the hot water for one hour. Drain the water from the peppers and put the peppers in a food processor along with the other ingredients. Process the mixture in a food processor until it is smooth and thoroughly combined. Move the harissa to a glass jar with a lid. Cover the harissa with a little olive oil so that it is not exposed to the air. If the mixture remains covered with a little oil it will last for months in the refrigerator.

Comments:

I use the harissa for many things. This is another “foundation recipe” at our house. Harissa it good tossed with cooked spaghetti or couscous. Harissa is also good in a marinate for tofu or seitan. I like to add a spoon or two into vegan mayonnaise for a nice spicy sandwich spread or veggie dip. I haven't tried it yet, but I can imagine a little Harissa mixed into the olive oil that is drizzled over the almond feta. Harissa has many uses and I will be adding many recipes for using the harissa in the future.

Tofu Sour Cream

When we used animal products in our home there was a lot of greek yogurt and sour cream that made its way to our dinner plates. Giving up dairy products was much more difficult for us than going without meat. I used to buy the prepared vegan sour cream substitutes but the laundry list of chemicals, stabilizers, preservatives and other unknown unnatural substances began to worry me. I tried many variations of sour cream before I settled on this version. The taste is reasonably mild, with a mouth feel that is similar to the dairy version of sour cream. If you want to reduce the calories you can cut half the canola oil from the recipe. It will still be good with less oil, but the texture will be a little off. My version contains a decided lemony flavor. I love all things lemon and it finds it way into many of my recipes. If you aren't a lemon lover half each lemon component to start.

Tofu Sour Cream
makes approximately 2 cups



Ingredients:

12.3-ounce package of Mori Nu lite silken tofu (firm)
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 to 3 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon agave
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
finely grated zest of ½ to 1 lemon

Directions:

Place all ingredients in a food processor or blender. Process several minutes, until very creamy and smooth. This will firm up a little when it chills. It is important to use the firm silken tofu to get the correct consistency. Begin with the smaller amount of lemon juice and taste the sauce to see if you would like more acid. The lemon zest also adds a lot of flavor to the sauce. I frequently use all the zest from the lemon, but I love the flavor. If you are trying to replicate sour cream more closely you should start with less lemon zest and adjust the amount to your taste. Refrigerate sour cream until it is ready to be used.

Serve this sour cream over Mexican dishes or on baked potatoes. This makes a great topping on soup. I use it frequently as a component for salad dressings. This recipe is one of my foundation recipes that I use in many other recipes. We make a batch of this healthy sour cream 2 or 3 times each month.

Nutritional Information (for entire recipe):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 387.35
Calories From Fat (70%) - 272.91

Total Fat - 30.81g
Saturated Fat - 2.53g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 1238.16mg
Potassium - 253.28mg
Total Carbohydrates - 6.42g
Fiber - 0.82g
Sugar - 2.16g
Protein - 22.09g

Nutritional Information for 1 tablespoon vs. dairy sour cream:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 13.83 vs. 31.2
Calories From Fat (70%) - 9.74 vs. 26.83
Total Fat - 1.1g vs. 3.06g
Saturated Fat - 0.09g vs. 1.9g
Cholesterol - 0mg vs. 6.42mg
Sodium - 44.22mg vs. 7.73mg
Potassium - 9.05mg vs. 21 mg
Total Carbohydrates - 0.23g vs. 0.62mg
Fiber - 0.03g vs. 0g
Sugar - 0.08g vs. 0.02g
Protein - 0.79g vs. 0.46g

Comment:

I was a little surprised to see that dairy sour cream has almost 2 grams of saturated fat in one tablespoon. That is disturbing when you realize that most servings are more than one tablespoon and you are supposed to have 10 grams of saturated fat total all day. If you are eating other dairy and meat it is very easy to exceed the 10 grams.