Documenting my long time cooking "hack".
If you have decent knife skills, this can be very fast to prepare. It is also cheap. For this lot, I used about $5 of ingredients. Well... western herbs can be expensive in Singapore, so I tend to use Thai Basil and Rosemary, both of which are growing in pots on my balcony.
Basically, just chop up the ingredients, insert into canning jars and then cook them in a water bath in the oven for about 2.5 to 3 hours set at 100-120 C. Do not pack too full (freezing will expand it and crack the glass). If you don't take out the pulpy tomato flesh (which I don't as I don't like to waste), you'll get quite a bit of watery looking fluid, which makes the tomato sauce not as thick as store bought - but I like it lighter. Also if I want it richer, when I use the sauce, I can add stuff like tomato paste (frying it before to caramelize it).
When done cooking in the oven, take out, wipe the outside and let cool a bit. Then pop them in the freezer.
Don't worry about exact quantities, because when you do use it, you can adjust to taste.
When ready to use, defrost from freezer, take out harder herbs (like Bay leaves) and then blend in blender.
Typical ingredients for me:
If you have decent knife skills, this can be very fast to prepare. It is also cheap. For this lot, I used about $5 of ingredients. Well... western herbs can be expensive in Singapore, so I tend to use Thai Basil and Rosemary, both of which are growing in pots on my balcony.
Basically, just chop up the ingredients, insert into canning jars and then cook them in a water bath in the oven for about 2.5 to 3 hours set at 100-120 C. Do not pack too full (freezing will expand it and crack the glass). If you don't take out the pulpy tomato flesh (which I don't as I don't like to waste), you'll get quite a bit of watery looking fluid, which makes the tomato sauce not as thick as store bought - but I like it lighter. Also if I want it richer, when I use the sauce, I can add stuff like tomato paste (frying it before to caramelize it).
When done cooking in the oven, take out, wipe the outside and let cool a bit. Then pop them in the freezer.
Don't worry about exact quantities, because when you do use it, you can adjust to taste.
When ready to use, defrost from freezer, take out harder herbs (like Bay leaves) and then blend in blender.
Typical ingredients for me:
- 3/4 volume of chopped tomato.
- chopped white onions and celery (equal volume).
- a small amount of sugar, pinch of salt.
- less than half teaspoon of vinegar.
- a little olive oil.
- half or one garlic clove (depending on taste and size of garlic).
- Herbs. Possibles: rosemary, basil, bay leaves, thyme.
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