Tomato Ketchup

• 2 kg tomatoes
• 1 tbsp chopped onion
• 2 flakes garlic
• 4 cloves
• 1 cardamom powdered
• 10 black pepper
• a pinch of cumin seeds
• 5cm cinnamon piece
• 1 tsp red chilli powder
• 1/2 tbsp salt
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1/4 cup vinegar
• 1/4 tsp sodium benzoate

Select good red ripe tomatoes. Cut off blemishes and slice. Heat tomato pieces after slightly crushing them without adding any water. Allow to boil for 5 minutes. Let cool. Pulp the cooled tomato pieces in a blender and grind them. Strain through a fine siever to remove seeds and skin. Add all spices to pulp. Boil so as to reduce quantity to a third of the original volume. Add vinegar, sugar and salt and heat till further reduced to a third of the quantity. Add sodium benzoate dissolved in water when warm. Bottle while hot. Let cool and store.