Homemade ketchup with bell peppers is packed with youthful antioxidants and fiber, which aids digestion and provides a lasting feeling of fullness. This nutritious product contains potassium, vitamins C, A, and B, all of which positively impact vision and the nervous system, as well as promote heart and vascular health. However, homemade ketchup made from tomatoes and peppers can lower blood pressure, so it should be consumed with caution by those with hypotension. It should also be eaten carefully in cases of gastritis, ulcers, or hemorrhoids, and for those allergic to peppers, this sauce can be substituted with or .
Ingredients: ripe tomatoes – 3 kg; bell peppers – 600 g; onions – 500 g; garlic – ½ head; sugar – 150 g; 9% vinegar – 100 ml; salt – 1 tablespoon; black pepper – 10 peas; allspice – 4 peas; cloves – 4 pcs.; ground cinnamon – ½ teaspoon; ground nutmeg – ½ teaspoon.
Preparation
Coarsely chop the peeled , onions, peppers, and . Place the vegetables in a pot, add salt, and cook for 3 hours over medium heat with the lid on. By the end of cooking, the contents of the pot should reduce in volume by half to two-thirds.
Remove the pot from the heat and blend the tomato mixture with an immersion blender until smooth. In a coffee grinder or mortar, grind the nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, black pepper, and allspice. Add these spices along with the sugar to the vegetable puree in the pot, pour in the vinegar, and mix thoroughly. Return the pot to medium heat and cook the homemade ketchup with bell peppers for another half hour.
Life Hack
To easily remove the skin from a tomato, make a shallow cross-cut at the stem end (the bottom of the fruit) and blanch the vegetable in boiling water followed by cold water: briefly scald it and then immediately transfer the tomato to cold water. The skin will also separate easily from the flesh if you place the tomato in a preheated oven at 200–220°C for a few minutes (when the skin cracks, you can take it out, cool it, and peel it) or heat it in the microwave for 15–30 seconds.
If you’re interested in the history of ketchup, check out our other publications:
And for a classic tomato ketchup recipe, we wrote about it here:
