homemade ketchup and korean taco night

this post is long overdue.

you might be saying to yourself, "the only thing in common homemade ketchup and korean tacos should have together is their first letter."

well let's see about that...

have you ever made your own ketchup?!  abbie de-stemmed and cleaned a huge bunch of ripe tomatoes from our garden.  we have a plethora of tomatoes this year and i decided to try jamie o's homemade ketcup recipe!!

mullie recipe notes:
used 1.5 c organic vegetable stock.
used 1/2 tsp ground cloves (didn't have whole cloves).
added 1 c pureed beets.
omittted fennel (didn't have any).
subbed dried basil instead of fresh basil (booo didn't have any).
subbed 1 c organic coconut palm sugar instead of regular sugar (then added a little more to taste).
used 1 c red wine vinegar (then added a little more to taste).

i had some leftover pureed beets from our red velvet escapade and i wanted red ketchup!

emersion blender love fest...

this sieving business takes a while...  my forearms were quite tired:)

the fixins for my korean taco night!

oh MAAAAAN, this stuff is GOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!  totes to the bbq sauce.

pretty awesome looking, right?  

and how does my homemade ketchup make a play in all of this?  i did not have gochujang which is korean red pepper paste.  so i figured, but of course!  i can use my homemade ketchup... i like to live dangerously.  

i can't wait to pick up some actual gochujang and taste the difference.

all of the recipes can be found in gywneth p's it's all good cookbook.

here are my notes and a link to two other blogger's posts that loved it all too!  

want to see some unaltered recipes?  find salsa and bbq sauce here and the slaw here.

tweaked korean bbq sauce

notes:

1/2 c apricot jam 

1/4 c homemade ketchup 

1 T organic tamari sauce (this was only supposed to be 1 tsp, but i goofed and it tasted great)

1 tsp toasted sesame oil

1 tsp fish sauce

3/4 tsp garlic powder (next time 1 clove minced garlic)

it whisked together just fine.  i grilled some local and sustainably raised organic chicken:  three breasts and 8 thighs.  i followed her directions on how to cook, turn and baste several times.  i rarely use the grill and i was so proud of myself!!  i sliced it all up and mixed the white and dark meat on the serving platter.

tweaked korean slaw

notes:

2 T evoo

2 T fresh organic lemon juice (or lime like the recipe suggests)

1/2 tsp fish sauce

1.5 c shredded organic green cabbage

1 c shredded organic spinach (kale, romaine or chard would all work well here)

3 T organic yellow onion (or red onion like the recipe suggests)

2 scallions, white and light green parts only, thinly sliced

3 T roughly chopped cilantro

2-3 tsp toasted sesame seeds

tweaked korean salsa 

notes:

about 2 cups homegrown cherry tomatoes halved

1 small organic yellow onion, diced

1 T evoo

2 T homemade ketchup 

3/4 tsp garlic powder (i ran out of fresh, so next time 1 clove minced garlic)

2 scallions, green parts only (i just used the rest of the scallion from the slaw!)

pinch of sea salt

so how did the family like it?  three enthusiastic thumbs up=me and my parents.  we LOVED it.  the combo of the bbq chicken, salsa and slaw was incredible.  four thumbs sideways to down=chris, mac, abbie and tommy.  i got all of them to eat one full fork bite of the combo.  no one showed "yucky faces" while swallowing, but no one would go for a full taco with all of the ingredients...  too scary for them still.  they instead opted for a gluten free tortilla with only chicken which was a resounding 4 thumbs up.  ugh.  next time, i am making the tacos up with a smidgen of everything on top, cuz that's.what.we're.having.for.dinner.

i am still chipping away here at the vege-phobes. 

onward and upward... this here chicky is not giving up.