BBQ Sauce

Ingredients

    2 tablespoons butter
    1 small yellow onion, finely chopped (about 1 cup)
    3 cloves garlic, minced (about 1 tablespoon)
    2 cups ketchup (or our home made Tomato Sauce)
    1/3 cup molasses
    1/3 cup dark brown sugar
    1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
    2 tablespoon yellow mustard (I like pre-made mustard not the powder)
    1 Cinnamon stick
    1 tablespoon sweet paprika
    1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper or to taste
 

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper **
1    tablespoon chili powder **
** Optional

Molasses is not that easy to get in some parts of Asia we use Black Treacle (Same Same but different) available at most baking supply shops in Malaysia.
We have found powered mustard has a very very short shelf life in the tropics, however prepared mustard has a good shelf life and does not require refrigeration. For us a good all rounder is Heinz yellow mustard, available on the Asian supermarket shelves.

Directions

    1.

    Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
 
2.

    Add ketchup, molasses, brown sugar, vinegar, mustard, chili powder, black pepper, and cayenne pepper and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer until slightly thickened, about 30 minutes, stirring frequently.
 
3.

    Transfer sauce to the jar of a blender and blend until smooth. Let cool to room temperature, transfer to a jar and store in refrigerator for up to a month.



Look here for our Tomato Sauce Recipe

Home style Tomato Sauce

Our boat made tomato sauce

Ingredients

    2.5kg ripe tomatoes, coarsely chopped
    2 large onions, coarsely chopped
    10 whole cloves or 1/4 tsp ground
    10 whole allspice berries or 1/4 tsp ground
    1 tablespoon sweet paprika
    1 clove garlic, sliced
    1/2 cinnamon stick or 1/4 tsp ground
    2 tablespoons salt  (to taste but remember its a preservative)
    1 1/2 cups sugar
    2 cups (clear) white (white malt) vinegar

I have also found you can easily funk up tomato sauce with some mustard, its a taste thing so try a small test sample before adding it to a whole batch. We use prepared mustard as it keeps longer in the tropics than powered mustard.

Select all ingredients
Method

    Step 1
    Place tomato, onion, cloves, berries, paprika, garlic, cinnamon and salt in a large saucepan over medium heat. Bring to the boil. Simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 1 hour or until the tomato breaks down and is tender.
    Step 2
    Add the sugar and vinegar. Simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for a further hour and 15 minutes or until mixture reduces, thickens and is of a saucy consistency. Adjust seasoning.
    Step 3
    Strain mixture through a coarse sieve into a large bowl, in batches, pressing down strongly to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard solids, seeds. Pour hot mixture into sterilised bottles. Seal. Store in a cool, dark place until ready to use. Once opened, store in the fridge.

This Tomato Sauce is a great starting point for our home made BBQ sauce.

Lemon Cake

Forget about making lemonade when you have lemons. Save them to whip this little beauty up and enjoy the fresh clean zingy taste of lemons in this wonderfully textured cake. Its a double delight with the flavour bursting from the top and bottom of the cake. If anything's worth taking a little tea break for, it's a wedge of this lemon cake.

120         g butter
1        cup fine granulated sugar
2        eggs
2        Tbs lemon zest
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4         tsp baking soda
1/2         tsp baking powder
1/2         tsp salt
1 1/2 tbs  Lemon Juice
100         ml  cream / butter milk
1         tsp vanilla extract

lemon syrup:
1/4           Cup fine granulated sugar
1/4           Cup Lemon Juice

Icing:
1               Cup icing sugar
1 3/4         Tbs lemon juice (enough to make a thick smooth mixture)

Preheat oven to 180°C / 350°F.
Grease and flour 1 x 8 1/2 inch pan, lining the bottom with baking paper.

Cream, using whisk, butter and 1 cup of fine granulated sugar in bowl till light and fluffy.
Whisking add eggs, 1 at a time, and the lemon zest.
Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a bowl.

In another bowl, combine 1 1/2 tbs lemon juice, cream or buttermilk and vanilla.
Whisking together until smooth. Alternately add flour and buttermilk mixtures to batter, beginning and ending with flour mixture.

Pour batter into the pan and smooth the top.
Bake 45 minutes- 1 hour, until tester comes out clean.

When the cake is cooked, cool 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine 1/4 C fine granulated sugar and 1/4 C lemon juice in small saucepan, cooking over low heat until sugar dissolves.

Remove cake from pan and set on wire rack over a larger baking tray (best to set upside down on rack so that syrup is spooned onto the bottom of the cake as it will absorb better than spooning over the top).

Spoon and spread lemon syrup over base of the cake.

Allow the cake to cool completely.

Icing: Combine sifted icing sugar and lemon juice in a bowl, mixing with whisk until smooth.