Homemade Sweet & Tangy BBQ Sauce: under 15 mins

The Spring has finally arrived and it’s time to welcome the Spring and say goodbye to the Winter. Everybody is so happy about it they are gearing and cheering for the Spring; they have already said goodbye to winter but sadly I’m actually saying goodbye to spring. I wanted to hold it longer but sometime Mother Nature becomes so cruel.

Yes Winter is the only comfortable season in western part of India. Here we have only two seasons: ten and half months long summer and one and half months long Spring. And yes no winter for us. When everybody was complaining about snow I wished I could have little of it here.

But we had enjoyed our ‘Spring-days’ during December-January while rest were shivering with the winter. During this comfortable time of the year how can one not think about Barbecue?? Specially, when this BBQ is known as the second best friend of Men; and first is known as Beer I believe and without it any BBQ will fail flat on the ground.

For any BBQ party a good quality BBQ sauce is equally important to the BBQ oven. BBQ sauce is easily available in any super market. But that’s definitely not cheap in a country like India. And top of all there are loads of BBQ sauces under the same section in grocery store.

How about some homemade fresh Sweet & Tangy BBQ sauce for your upcoming BBQ party? They are easy, quick infact will be done under 15 mins and top of all they are just ready to serve. Use it whether to brush your meat on BBQ or as dip for your veggies, pizza, meat whatever you want.

Curious? Go through this recipe of finger licking Barbecue Sauce’s homemade version.

Preparation Time: 5 mins

Cooking Time: 15 mins

Total Time: 20 mins

Yield: 1½ cup

Ingredients:

Red onion: ¼ cup, finely chopped

Garlic clove: 3, minced/chopped

Tomato paste/puree: 1 tbsp

Cumin: ½ tsp, dry roasted and powdered

Tomato sauce: ¼ cup

Molasses: 3 tbsp

Honey: 1 tbsp

Soy sauce: 1 tsp

Vinegar: 1 tbsp

Paprika powder: 1 tsp

Black pepper powder: 1 tsp

Kosher salt: 1 tsp

Olive oil: 2 tbsp (for brushing)

Homemade Dijon mustard sauce: 1 tbsp

Preparation:

Take oil in a nonstick small saucepan/wok. Put it on medium flame and heat.

Add chopped red onion and sauté for 3 mins or until onion is soft and translucent but not browned. Keep the flame on medium-low at this stage. (See Tips)

Add garlic and continue sauté for next 1 mins or until fragrant. (See Tips)

Add tomato paste or puree whichever is available. Simmer the flame and continue frying for next 1 min or until raw smell of tomato is gone. Add the cumin powder at this point and mix well. You can use homemade tomato paste too. (See Tips)

Pour the molasses and honey one by one and mix quickly.

Pour soy sauce and vinegar too.

Continue adding paprika powder, black pepper powder and Dijon mustard sauce. I used Homemade Dijon Mustard. For the Homemade version click here.

Quickly mix and simmer for 10 mins. Once the sauce starts to thicken switch off the flame and transfer to the bowl. (See Tips)

Allow it to cool completely and then blend to achieve a smooth sauce. Store in air tight glass container to avoid any reactions and refrigerate. This BBQ sauce can be stored upto 3 weeks.

Enjoy it as both sauce and dip. Both ways they are delicious. If you are using this sauce as the base sauce of pizza I will suggest you not to blend the sauce. The crunchiness of garlic flake and onion will give your pizza a whole new experience.

Tips:

1. Onion shouldn’t be sauted till brown. It will turn the color of the sauce thick black.

2. Don’t burn the garlic otherwise the sauce will taste bitter.

3. To make homemade fresh tomato puree use 1 large ripe tomato and blend in the blender. That’s it!

4. If the sauce gets blackened and too thick sprinkle some regular water in between. Two-three times should be enough. Still if you find it too thick further dilute it with regular water.