Nanna-Style Tomato Sauce (To Put on Pies Not Pasta)

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Nanna-Rific Tomato Sauce

10 kilos of ripe tomatoes- chopped roughly
2.5 kilos of granny smith apples - cored and peeled and chopped roughly
30g of ground ginger
30g of whole cloves*
30g of whole allspice*1 tsp of mace
30g cayenne pepper
1 litre white vinegar 1.5 kg sugar 8 tablespoons of salt 2kg chopped onions* bundle these up in some muslin or calico with string to keep closed and pop in - you need to take it out once cooking time is up, though.

You'll be needing a 20 litre pot for this!
Put all ingredients into a very large pan. Boil for 3.5 to 4 hours. Blend or sieve to make for a smoother consistency. Bottle in sterilised jars. Make adorable labels with smiling tomatoes on them. Give to people for Christmas! Bravo!
(If you like - add a few cloves of garlic, cumin seeds and some chilli for a bit more gusto!)

sauce bottles from here

Pump Up The Jam - Tomato Jam

vintage tomato thermometer via here


This is the tomato jam they used to serve at Stephanie's in Hawthorn long, long ago. Du-re got me hooked on this - and then it disappeared forever from my life, when Stephanie's disappeared. So sad - and we definately need to bring back the jam

I'm making regular Nanna-style tomato sauce at this very moment - but I'm going to make this tomato jam this week too.

I'm in a total preserving, bottling, pickling frenzy! I am just feathering my nest, I think... well, bottling at least. I have sweet, romantic notions of a pantry super-lined with bottles and jars of good stuff - just waiting to be popped open and enjoyed.

Anyway... here is the recipe for the tomato jam i am GOING to make!



Tomato Jam
4kg of ripe tomatoes
200ml light vegetable oil
4 tbsp cumin seeds, lightly roasted
2 tbsp mustard seeds, soaked overnight in 400ml of white wine vinegar
200g fresh ginger grated finely
20 cloves garlic
10 red chillis (perhaps a bit less - i think 4)
2 tbsp ground turmeric
2 tbsp sambal oelek
250g palm sugar
100ml fish sauce (or you could add 50ml of light soy and the juice of one lemon to make this vegan or vegetarian - I'm doing that so I can give some to Gemma and Hollie and Molly too. You're important!)

OKAY - First place the tomatoes in a roasting pan with the oil. Cover with foil and roast for 4 hours at 180 degrees. I think I'm going to do this in a pressure cooker - to speed it up - my pressure cooker is huge and will preserve all the juices. Plus - my oven is tiny and portable. It can't do this!

Pass the roasted tomatoes through a food mill - or blend and then sieve.

Process remaining ingredients until pastey. Cook this paste over a low heat in a heavy pan for 1 hour. Add the pureed, roasted tomatoes and cook for a further 2 hours. Bottle in sterile jars.