One of my friends gave me a bag full of beautiful, meaty and sweet tomatoes that were homegrown which I needed to use up before they went off. It also happened to be around the same time that my husband bought a few bulbs of garlic that looked like they survived a house fire – yes that is Black Garlic. There is one recipe that popped up in my little brain to use up all of those tomatoes and black garlic and here we are!
One Christmas vacation, we all gathered at my sister’s place in Sydney and spent a few days with them at her place. During these family gatherings, having a BBQ is rarely missed and my sister served us it with a homemade BBQ sauce. It was THE SAUCE! Her friends ask her to please make extra for them to take home and if my sister had bottled them, they would have surely bought them. So, this recipe was inspired by my sister’s signature BBQ sauce. Homemade BBQ sauce is way better than the shop-bought ones. This is THE BEST Homemade BBQ Sauce that will have your mouth smiling with every bite and everyone will request again and again – trust me on this one!
Black garlic itself is a flavour bomb. It doesn’t have much of an odour compared to raw garlic and has a very complex but delicious flavour. It is a bit hard to describe how black garlic tastes like. It has a mysterious taste, meaning that it is familiar and yet strange at the same time. It has the sweetness of aged balsamic or aniseeds and a smoky flavour of black cardamom. You can also detect the sweet and sour taste of tamarind when you eat by itself. That is what unique about black garlic. You cannot obtain that flavour from any other ingredient and there is really no substitution if that is the flavour you are going for. However, If you cannot find black garlic, then you can use raw garlic in this recipe and that is what my sister uses in her sauce. You will still not be disappointed with the end result. All the ingredients work in harmony to bring a punch of flavour. It is earthy, sweet, tangy and smokey with a hint of chillies.
You can make this sauce in a breeze and simmer on the stove for a perfect DIY sauce. Then from there, you have got endless possibilities of ways to use it up!
Ingredients
800g fresh ripped tomatoes (or 3 cups tomato sauce)
2 tsp tamarind paste
4 tbsp treacle syrup ( 0r 1/2 cup raw sugar)
3 tbsp mango chutney
1 medium onion finely chopped
3 black garlic bulbs (or 5- 6 raw garlic cloves)
1-inch ginger
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
2 -3 fresh red chillis
2 tbsp olive oil
salt to taste
Method;
- Add tomatoes, ginger, garlic, onions and chillies into a food processor or blender and blend until you achieve a pureed consistency.
- Heat up a pot on medium heat and add oil.
- Add the puree to the pot and let it simmer for 10 minutes.
- Add all other ingredients and let it simmer for another 20 – 25 minutes.
- I did not add any water in my recipe as I’d liked mine to be a very thick sauce. If you want yours to be slightly less thick in consistency, add water until you achieve the desired consistency.
- Use the sauce immediately, or refrigerate in a sealed container for up to 2 weeks.
If you make this dish, please be sure to leave a comment below and tag me on Instagram @thekitchenfootprints. I would love to see your photos while you cook along with me 🙂