Wow, time really does fly. It’s been about two months since I last added a new entry to the blog – a little longer than the “few weeks” I said I’d take.
But hopefully the next couple of recipes will make up for it. This first one is my slight adaptation of a recipe from the Pitt Cue Co. recipe book – my Habanero and Chipotle Ketchup. It uses more readily available ingredients in the UK. It’s really part of a two step endeavour. I say endeavour rather than “recipe” as this one is pretty damn spicy. As a result, unless you’re big into spicy sauces I’d say this one is simply a base for a bigger and better recipe – Barbecue Sauce!
This Habanero and Chipotle Ketchup takes a fair while to make. A reasonable amount of prep and a long, low cooking method make for an incredible sauce, but not without a fair amount of effort. Therefore I’d suggest making this in big batches, jarring it up and preserving cans of this ketchup.
After preserving, you’ve then got yourself plenty of base sauce for an incredible Barbecue Sauce – and thanks to getting this post up in early July, just in time for the summer grilling season!
This recipe for Habanero and Chipotle Ketchup uses a vegetable mouli. You can buy one relatively inexpensively on Amazon by clicking here.
- 1kg Chopped Tomatoes
- 250g Onions
- 250g Bramley (Cooking) Apples
- 250g Light Muscavado Sugar
- 25g Maldon Smoked Sea Salt
- 25g Hot Smoked Paprika
- 2 heaped tsp Chipotle Paste
- 2 Dried Habanero Chillies
- If you're not using tinned chopped tomatoes (I did, I cheated), peel, wash and chop your tomatoes. Peel and finely chop the onions. Peel, core and roughly chop the apples.
- Place all the ingredients apart from the sugar in a large pan. Bring it up to the boil then quickly reduce to a simmer. Cook on a low simmer for around two hours, at which point the apples and tomatoes should have largely disintegrated.
- Remove from a simmer and take out the habanero chillies before passing through a Vegetable Mouli. Leave them in for extra fire in the sauce..! As this is quite a high quantity recipe, you may need to do this in batches. If you don't own one, this piece of kit is amazing and well worth the investment! You'll see what I mean when you've used it..!
- After around 10 minutes in the vegetable Mouli Discard the pulp left over in the Vegetable Mouli.
- Return the sauce that has been passed through the Mouli into the pan. Add the sugar and continue cooking on a simmer for around 30-60 minutes, until the sauce has thickened slightly. Make sure you stir this regularly to avoid the sauce sticking to the pan.
- Your sauce is now done. Either use immediately for Barbecue Sauce (as I did) or decant into ready sterilised jars and seal.
- Continue to properly preserve the sauce as suggested if that's your thing, otherwise refrigerate and use within two weeks.
- Don't want it as spicy? Remove one or both of the habanero chillies. If you're using this as a base for Barbecue Sauce - leave them in! It gives the Barbecue Sauce a great spicy kick..!