"Once you've tried this flavour booster, you'll never want to do without it again and enjoy it with almost anything. With grilled vegetables, fish or meat, as an accompaniment to cheese, but also simply to dip bread in. I always have a few jars in stock at home. The tomato jam sauce is a real umami bomb and everyone who tries it is always pleasantly surprised by it. This is how it is prepared:

Preheat the oven to 180 ᵒ C.

Cut 750 g ripe tomatoes (e.g. small vine tomatoes or Roma) into halves and deseed. Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper, drizzle with olive oil and place in the oven to cook.

Press the cooked tomatoes through a sieve into a pan.

Peel 12 cloves of garlic and place whole in a blender. Peel 1 roughly chopped onion and a piece of ginger, approx. 100 g, cut into slices and add. Puree well with 150 ml olive oil and set aside.

Dry roast 1 tablespoon each of cumin seeds, fennel seeds and coriander seeds in a frying pan - i.e. without oil - and finely grind separately in a blender. Add the ground spices to the garlic, onion and ginger puree, mix everything together and pour the mixture into a pan with the remaining oil, simmer for about 40 minutes. Add 80 g palm sugar and caramelise, then stir in 70 ml fish sauce or anchovy extract (colatura di alici) and simmer for a further 5 mins. Add 100 ml red wine vinegar. Cook for 1 min. and stir in the puréed tomatoes. Then turn down the heat and reduce the sauce until a thick, jammy purée forms.

Fill the finished sauce into sterilised jars. To store, cover well with oil and seal the jars tightly. It will keep in the fridge for several months. Makes about 700 ml. "

Richard Kägi

Food Scout