Love him or loathe him, Jamie Oliver is one of the UK’s most popular celebrity chefs and like anything else has his own particular take on his favourite tomato ketchup recipe.
Some reviews state that this particular tomato ketchup recipe ends up being rather thick and not very much like the more traditional ketchup we may be used to.
I say give the ingredients a tweak, try different varieties of tomato and different amounts of liquids and you can probably refine your own tomato ketchup recipe and truly call it your own 
Ingredients
- 1 large onion (preferably red to help preserve the colour)
- 1 lb of tomatoes. Jamie recommends plum or cherry tomatoes and to chop them first and add 1lb of canned plum tomatoes. Alternatively use 2 lbs of green, yellow or orange tomatoes – but obviously if you use these the final product may not be tomato ketchup red colour.
- 1/2 bulb fennel
- 1 stick celery
- Olive oil
- 1/2 inch ginger root
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/2 a fresh red chili
- Bunch of basil (separate stalks from leaves)
- 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
- 2 cloves
- Pinch of Salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons vinegar – red wine vinegar is the choice of Jamie Oliver
Method
First thing you need to do is clean and prepare your ingredients. Wash, chop, peel and remove seeds as appropriate from your chili, onion, fennel, celery, ginger, garlic and basil making sure to get rid of all stalks. Hint, if you want to make your ketchup a little more spicy then use green chilies instead of red, they will add a real kick!
Find a large saucepan, preferably one with a heavy bottom so that the heat is distributed more evenly and add in your prepared garlic, cloves, coriander seeds, basil stalks, ginger, fennel and chili. Add a little olive oil or your lubrication of choice and season to taste with the salt and pepper.
Cook these for a good fifteen minutes over a low heat until soft and aromatic. Make sure you don’t neglect to stir, then add your tomatoes plus 1 and a half cups of water. Bring the whole lot to the boil and then turn down the heat and simmer until the sauce has reduced by about 50%.
Next put the whole lot in a food blender / processor and add your basil leaves before blitzing it for a few minutes at the highest speed to remove any lumpy bits. No one likes lumpy bits in their ketchup! Remove from the blender and drain through a fine grained sieve to take out any undesirables and blitz again. By now your concoction should look smooth and shiny but maybe still a little too wet.
Choose a clean pan and pour the whole mixture in plus your vinegar and brown sugar. Apply heat and simmer until it thickens and looks like the consistency of ketchup! The finished product.
Using sterilized equipment pour the puree through a funnel into bottles and ensure there is a good tight seal. Keep in the fridge and your ketchup should stay usuable for up to 6 months.