Well, I have been told to remove onion and garlic from my diet, not to mention gluten. Oh my goodness. Gluten is fine, can deal with that after writing “From My Kitchen to Yours”, but onions and garlic are a mainstay of my cooking for adding flavour to all sorts of savoury dishes; rarely do I make one without them. It has called for a total rethink.
Apparently there are many people who either don’t like or cannot tolerate onion and garlic so I have now developed a few everyday recipes. However, I really, really miss home-made savoury sauces and pickles because I add those to many dishes as well. Finally I could stand it no longer and so this morning invented a tomato sauce. It is really a ketchup in the true sense of the word as traditionally they should only contain one fruit or vegetable (as in mushroom ketchup for example).
Secretly I held out little hope of success but used some tomatoes from the garden that had plenty of flavour. I was truly astounded at the result – it is really tasty with a lovely rounded flavour. I only made a small batch, so sceptical was I of the quality of the end result, so just double it if you want and boil it for a bit longer.
Licking the spoon after I finished bottling it, I think it would make a really good tomato topping on a pizza. I’ll certainly be trying that out.
Tomato Sauce (ketchup style) without onions or garlic
The sauce should keep well for at least a year.
1.5kg tomatoes, chopped
1½ cups white vinegar
250g sugar
4 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons mustard powder
1 teaspoon curry powder
Place all the ingredients into a saucepan and bring to the boil, then reduce heat to medium and cook for 20 minutes. Strain through a sieve or food mill. Return to heat and cook over medium-low heat until a sauce-like consistency forms (about 20 to 30 minutes). Pour into warm sterilised bottles and seal immediately.
sallywise.com.au 
Hello Sally,
I am making your tomato relish recipe tomorrow but will now be making this as well. It sounds like it will be delicious and might be just the thing to wean three children off of horrible supermarket tomato sauce!
Kind Regards,
Michelle.
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I will try the tomato sauce but wondering about a sweet chilli sauce sans onion and garlic? Do you think I could just add some chilli to this recipe?
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Yes, certainly.
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Hi Sally, just found this site when searching for a recipe for no onion/garlic tomato relish. I read with interest that you like myself have dabbled with the FODMAP diet and like yourself I have struggled with having to exclude many foods including onion and garlic, a past essential in much of my cooking. I very much struggle with gluten free as well, love my bread and am yet to find a decent loaf yet, even tried making my own, disgusting. My need to start the FODMAP diet was after suffering from onging gut ant intestinal problems since having a bowel resection due to a diagnosis of bowel cancer, no fun there. I find the FODMAP diet so restrictive and now have become quite savvy at reading labels, all my favourite sauces, relishes and chutneys contain excluded foods. I have now taken to making a lot of my own sauces including a lovely batch of sweet chilli sauce and teriyaki sauce as all the commercial brands contain either onion or garlic or both. Like you my garden has produced a bumper crop of tomatoes so have got the romas in the oven drying (commercial ones all contain garlic) and a big pot of your tomato sauce simmering on the stove, smells delish. Anyway thanks so much for the recipe.
Cheers, Janine
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Hi Sally,
I am preserving and canning for the first time. After filling the sterilised jars and sealing with the lid do I need to process the jars in a water bath? The internet is full of confusing information.
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Hi Cathryn – if you are making jam or chutney, pickle or relish, the answer is generally no, unless you have lowered the sugar and vinegar levels. If you are using my recipes for instance (from “A Year in a Bottle”, “Out of the Bottle” or “A Year on the Farm”), the answer is definitely not.
If you are preserving fruit in syrup (like the old Fowlers method), the answer is yes. Feel free to ring me to discuss this further if you need any clarification. 0408 569 423 or (03) 62611336. Oftentimes American recipes will say to water bath the product, so this can be confusing.
Regards
Sally
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Hi Sally,
Love your books, I own two (year in a bottle & Slow cooker 2) and have tried many recipes out of each.
Could you please advise the quantity of tomato sauce I could expect from the above recipe please.?
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It should make between 1.5 and 1.75 litres. This can vary a bit according to how fast it boils and rate of evaporation.
Hope this helps.
Regards
Sally
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One more quick question, do you cook the above sauce with the lid on or off?
Kind Regards
Sandra
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Hi Sandra – lid off so that required evaporation can take place.
Sally
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Hi Sally
I have made several batches of your tomato relish from the Complete Slow Cooker book and would like to double the recipe now as I have plenty of tomatoes at present. Just wondering if you could give me some idea of how long I would have to cook a double batch. I cook the single batch for 6 hours on high and the result is always beautiful. Thanks so much for such a great recipe. It’s a hit with our family and friends. Any advice would be much appreciated. I also intend to give the ketchup a go soon.
Thanks, Linda
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Hi Linda – so pleased you like the relish. If you want to use a slow cooker and double the recipe, you would need probably a 6 litre (or more) capacity version. It would take at least one and a half times as long, even more perhaps. I would instead make it in a large saucepan on the top of the stove. Bring it to the boil, stirring often, and then cook over medium heat for one hour before thickening (you may need less cornflour paste to thicken, but that will depend on your tomatoes.
Hope this helps
Regards
Sally
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Thanks Sally. I’ll give it a go tomorrow evening.
Cheers, Linda
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Thank you Sally for this recipe. My husband and daughter are off the onion family too with the fodmap diet for ibs. I have also created a perfect soft gf bread after a few years of trials yay yay! Although I have lived in qld for 20 years my heart is still in Tassie (Huon valley) Xxxx
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Hi Sally,
I just adore the taste of this tomato sauce. Fresh, tasty and tomatoey. I also love the spicy taste of Fountains ‘Spicy Red’ tomato sauce, and was wondering if you have a similar recipe or could magic up a Sally Wise version. Thank you
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Hi Sally – could you please tell me how to thicken this recipe? I’ve made a couple of batches from home grown tomatoes and both batches are really runny – the tast great thou! thanks
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Hi Chris – sure, just mix together some cornflour with enough vinegar to make a thinnish paste. Stir into the boiling mixture until desired thickness is reached. A lot depends on the tomatoes’ water content, that’s why it’s runny sometimes. All good though, cornflour is a marvellous thing. You could boil it for longer instead if you like, but that reduces the yield.
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Hi Sally,
Can you use Apple cider vinegar instead of white vinegar?
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You certainly can.
Sally
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Looking for tomato chilli sauce could I add chillies to your tomato sauce recipe
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Yes, you could, but you would need to add a bit more vinegar and sugar as chillies go off quite easily. If you let me know which recipe you wanted to use for tomato sauce, I will put a recipe together for you.
Sally
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Sorry it’s NOT onion free because there is “onion powder” in the teaspoon of curry powder.
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Oh dear – ok, then you could make your own curry powder as indeed I do. Here is the recipe: 30g coriander seeds, 30g cumin seeds, 15g fennel seeds, 10g fenugreek seeds, , 2 teaspoons chilli powder, 2 teaspoons turmeric and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook the seeds in a frying pan over medium heat until fragrant, cool a little and then grind in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle. MIx with the ground spices. I make double and keep in a jar in the fridge.
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Just wondering if there is any way to stop the ketchup from getting darker at the top of the bottle when stored. Have checked that the seal is airtight and everything is sterile and also use new lids.
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No, there’s not really. It’s an enzyme reaction. All I do is shake each bottle well as it comes out of the cupboard – it vanishes like magic. Regards, Sally
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Hi Sally Just looking through these comments and I would like to tell you that for a nice red colour to sauces I add red beet medium size, just chopped up coarsely
Hope this is useful
Gail
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Thanks Gail. It certainly is, thanks!
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Things I have learned this summer:
1. If I am to mash a tomato with a potato masher, I need to wear an apron.
2. If I am going to use said mashed tomatoes from my CSA, I need to remove the melon first before transporting to prevent bruising.
Ah well, live and learn. I’ve got two more pounds of the summer beauts coming in tomorrow’s box, so this will certainly be there beloved destiny.
I am actually one who daydreams about eggplant; happy to know I’m not the only one who dreams of nightshades.
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I would like to use organic canned crushed tomatoes in this recipe. Can you advise on many ounces to use?
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Exactly the same weight, measured minus can of course. Regards, Sally
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Hi Sally, I too am a mad preserver…I cook 100s of jars of jams, chutneys, relishes etc for our local school fete. Your Pumpkin Chutney recipe from “Year in a bottle” is a winner. Can I ask if you have any suggestions for a “Fructose free” chutney or relish? One of my Bookclub friends is Fructose intolerant, and would love to indulge in more than a scraping of chutney. I will certainly suggest your Tomato Ketchup (without onions & garlic). But was hoping to come up with some other options.
Thanks.
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Hmmm – that’s a tough one. Leave it with me and I’ll research bait, then experiment and see what I can come up with. Is your friend on the FODMAPS diet by any chance? I have that book somewhere at home. If she is, I will use the guidelines in there as to fructose free fresh produce.
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Thanks for your response Sally.
I believe she is on the FODMAPS “spectrum” (not strictly). However, with a little guidance (no onion, garlic, pear, apple etc, with a little bit of sugar allowed…) I managed to make a Mediterranean chutney with tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant etc. Hopefully she will like the result.
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