I got some ideas for this from other recipes, most of which included oil or fat of some kind, so i took the best of what i could find and added my own twist to this. It really is great as a substitute for shop bought BBQ sauce, which is often full of preservatives, animal produce and/or oil.

Time: Approximately 1hr15mins including cooling time.

Ingredients

2 Tbsp water
1 Red onion, finely chopped
3 Garlic cloves, crushed
1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
80g Brown sugar, dark is best
3 Tbsp Malt vinegar
2 Tbsp tomato puree
2 Tsp smoked paprika
1 Tsp liquid smoke
2 Tsp Cacao/Cocoa powder
Good pinch white pepper
2 Bay leafs

Method:

1 – Add the water to a medium saucepan on a low-medium heat, add the onion and garlic, cook for about 5mins, stirring often.

2 – Pop in the tinned tomatoes, stir for another 2mins.

3 – Add the rest of the ingredients and bring the sauce to a simmer. Let it bubble away for 20-25mins, stirring often so it doesn’t stick, until the sauce has thickened.

4 – Take off the heat and let it cool.

5 – Remove the bay leaves, and pour sauce into a food processor (a smoothie maker is better for a smoother sauce, i use a Nutri Bullet). Blitz on high speed until smooth.

6 – Pop the sauce into jars. Pop one in the fridge to use straight away, stick the rest in the freezer. In the fridge the sauce will keep for 3 weeks easily.

NOTE: I use this like i would ketchup or BBQ sauce, on sausages, scrambled tofu or in wraps.