This is my very own recipe for spicy asian ketchup! It tastes amazing, and unlike most shop-bought ketchups has layers of heat and flavour packed inside every drop. <3 Another one for the  FACCC

Ingredients:
6 firm mid-sized tomatoes (I used on-the-vine ones), roughly chopped.
1 mid-sized onion, diced.
3 segments garlic, crushed/finely chopped.
3-5 red chillis (depending on how spicy you like it!), chopped.
Salt to taste.
1tbsp tomato puree
1 star anise
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp dried parsley or a handful of finely chopped fresh, flat leaf parsley
125g brown sugar
125ml distilled vinegar (you could use mirin/rice wine vinegar to give it an extra asian edge, but I didn't have any)
Juice and zest of 1 lime.

Place your tomatoes, onions, chillis and garlic into a large pan. Bring to a low simmer. Stir well to ensure nothing sticks to the bottom of the pan or starts to brown/cook too quickly. Add a pinch of salt at the start too, but not too much. It's easier to add salt as the dish develops than to water it down after adding too much.

Simmer for about 15 minutes or until until the tomatoes have given up some of their juice and there's a decent amount of liquid in the pan.

Add your vinegar, then sugar, stirring well so that all the sugar is dissolved.

Add your star anise, bay leaf and lime zest.

Simmer, stirring regularly, for an 1 hour 30 minutes. Taste every 15/20 minutes to ensure the flavour is balanced. If you feel it's too sweet, add some of the lime juice. Need more acid? Add more vinegar. Salt to taste.

Add your tomato puree and parsley. Simmer for a final 15 minutes.

Take out your bayleef and star anise (unless it's dissolved like mine did :D) and pour mixture into a blender. Blitz till smooth, then pass through a fine seive to remove any lingering impurities. It should now look, and taste, like the most amazing spicy ketchup ever.

Pour into a sterile glass jar/pot, and use with all your tastiest dishes.