BLAK EMBER – Curried Tomato Hot Sauce
A sweetness from the fresh tomato lends to a wonderful savoury note from the curry, vinegary sharpness cutting through bringing balance and elegance, followed by an aggressive heat holding those ingredients responsible. As quick as it’s come, it’s gone, leaving you with a slow-burning EMBER of flavour.
This sauce is deeply personal to me and my family with the recipe handed down many many generations of old colonial New Zealand mothers dating back to the mid 1800s. Every Kiwi mother has made some version of a tomato relish however my closest friend’s mother (who I fondly called my 2nd mum) made the best. Upon tasting this at a very early age I became obsessed and had it with everything. Including fish fingers, eggs, bacon and burgers
Alongside my mother, 2nd mum was one of the greatest cooks I know, naturally pairing flavours, producing delicious home-cooked meals and ensuring she always had food on the table for her family and friends. She knew what ingredients were good, when they were at their best and how to treat them with the respect they deserved. Mid tomato season if she hadn’t grown them, she would go to the local picking farm and choose the best, these would be lovingly turned into her incredible tomato relish. The key to this relish was the slightly older softer tomatoes were chosen.
In her later years once I had moved to London, I sadly found out 2nd mum had contracted cancer, she was a strong woman and we all believed she would beat this awful sickness, after a long and heroic battle she sadly passed away. Before she did, I received an email from her gifting me the recipe with the short message to continue making this sauce and when it was time to pass it on to my family. I’ve closely guarded this recipe for years, memorised it, cooked and made several variations throughout the restaurants ive worked in but recently we nailed this new version. I felt this is the time to now give her the honour and platform that this sauce deserves.
To give every Kiwi mum the honour that it deserves. While this isn’t the exact recipe that remains with me and my family, this is my final love letter to her ….my 2nd mum.
INGREDIENTS
Tomato (66%), onion, brown sugar, malt vinegar (barley, malt extract 5% Acidity GLUTEN – BARLEY, red habanero (3%), water, salt, garlic, rapeseed oil, madras curry powder (ground coriander, ground turmeric, MUSTARD powder, bengal gram (black chickpea), ground cumin, ground chilli, ground fenugreek, ground black pepper, garlic powder, iodised salt, ground fennel) thyme, oregano, bay leaf, xanthan gum
A sweetness from the fresh tomato lends to a wonderful savoury note from the curry, vinegary sharpness cutting through bringing balance and elegance, followed by an aggressive heat holding those ingredients responsible. As quick as it’s come, it’s gone, leaving you with a slow-burning EMBER of flavour.
This sauce is deeply personal to me and my family with the recipe handed down many many generations of old colonial New Zealand mothers dating back to the mid 1800s. Every Kiwi mother has made some version of a tomato relish however my closest friend’s mother (who I fondly called my 2nd mum) made the best. Upon tasting this at a very early age I became obsessed and had it with everything. Including fish fingers, eggs, bacon and burgers
Alongside my mother, 2nd mum was one of the greatest cooks I know, naturally pairing flavours, producing delicious home-cooked meals and ensuring she always had food on the table for her family and friends. She knew what ingredients were good, when they were at their best and how to treat them with the respect they deserved. Mid tomato season if she hadn’t grown them, she would go to the local picking farm and choose the best, these would be lovingly turned into her incredible tomato relish. The key to this relish was the slightly older softer tomatoes were chosen.
In her later years once I had moved to London, I sadly found out 2nd mum had contracted cancer, she was a strong woman and we all believed she would beat this awful sickness, after a long and heroic battle she sadly passed away. Before she did, I received an email from her gifting me the recipe with the short message to continue making this sauce and when it was time to pass it on to my family. I’ve closely guarded this recipe for years, memorised it, cooked and made several variations throughout the restaurants ive worked in but recently we nailed this new version. I felt this is the time to now give her the honour and platform that this sauce deserves.
To give every Kiwi mum the honour that it deserves. While this isn’t the exact recipe that remains with me and my family, this is my final love letter to her ….my 2nd mum.
INGREDIENTS
Tomato (66%), onion, brown sugar, malt vinegar (barley, malt extract 5% Acidity GLUTEN – BARLEY, red habanero (3%), water, salt, garlic, rapeseed oil, madras curry powder (ground coriander, ground turmeric, MUSTARD powder, bengal gram (black chickpea), ground cumin, ground chilli, ground fenugreek, ground black pepper, garlic powder, iodised salt, ground fennel) thyme, oregano, bay leaf, xanthan gum
A sweetness from the fresh tomato lends to a wonderful savoury note from the curry, vinegary sharpness cutting through bringing balance and elegance, followed by an aggressive heat holding those ingredients responsible. As quick as it’s come, it’s gone, leaving you with a slow-burning EMBER of flavour.
This sauce is deeply personal to me and my family with the recipe handed down many many generations of old colonial New Zealand mothers dating back to the mid 1800s. Every Kiwi mother has made some version of a tomato relish however my closest friend’s mother (who I fondly called my 2nd mum) made the best. Upon tasting this at a very early age I became obsessed and had it with everything. Including fish fingers, eggs, bacon and burgers
Alongside my mother, 2nd mum was one of the greatest cooks I know, naturally pairing flavours, producing delicious home-cooked meals and ensuring she always had food on the table for her family and friends. She knew what ingredients were good, when they were at their best and how to treat them with the respect they deserved. Mid tomato season if she hadn’t grown them, she would go to the local picking farm and choose the best, these would be lovingly turned into her incredible tomato relish. The key to this relish was the slightly older softer tomatoes were chosen.
In her later years once I had moved to London, I sadly found out 2nd mum had contracted cancer, she was a strong woman and we all believed she would beat this awful sickness, after a long and heroic battle she sadly passed away. Before she did, I received an email from her gifting me the recipe with the short message to continue making this sauce and when it was time to pass it on to my family. I’ve closely guarded this recipe for years, memorised it, cooked and made several variations throughout the restaurants ive worked in but recently we nailed this new version. I felt this is the time to now give her the honour and platform that this sauce deserves.
To give every Kiwi mum the honour that it deserves. While this isn’t the exact recipe that remains with me and my family, this is my final love letter to her ….my 2nd mum.
INGREDIENTS
Tomato (66%), onion, brown sugar, malt vinegar (barley, malt extract 5% Acidity GLUTEN – BARLEY, red habanero (3%), water, salt, garlic, rapeseed oil, madras curry powder (ground coriander, ground turmeric, MUSTARD powder, bengal gram (black chickpea), ground cumin, ground chilli, ground fenugreek, ground black pepper, garlic powder, iodised salt, ground fennel) thyme, oregano, bay leaf, xanthan gum