Caribbean BBQ Sauce

Ingredients

¼ cup brown sugar

¼ cup cider vinegar

1 large onion diced

2 cups ketchup

¼ cup Vegetarian Worcestershire sauce

2 tbsp molasses

2 tbsp yellow mustard

1 tsp hot sauce

½ tsp black pepper

½ tsp ground allspice

1 tbsp olive oil

½ tsp salt

1 tbsp grated ginger

¾ cup tamarind pulp

Directions

Put the tamarind paste into a bowl and top it with a little more than 1 cup of boiling water. The hot water will break the tamarind down into a concentrated liquid form.

In a deep sauce pan on medium heat, pour in the olive oil, then add in the diced onion. Turn your heat down to low and let this slowly cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cook until it is soft and translucent.

After 5 minutes, it’s time to add the black pepper and allspice, which will help toast the spices and release their flavors. Cook that for a minute or two, then start adding everything else into the pot except the tamarind. Raise your heat to medium to bring to a gentle boil (remember to keep stirring). As this comes to a boil, the water with the tamarind pulp should be cool enough for you to handle.

Using a fork (at first), break up the tamarind pulp, then use your fingers to massage it. This will release the pulp and the water will become a sort of tamarind concentrate. Discard as much of the solid seeds and fibers as you can. Now strain the liquid into the pot and give it a good stir.

Turn the heat on your saucepan down to a very gentle simmer. Cook this very slowly to combine all the flavours and form a tasty tamarind bbq sauce. Usually after 30 minutes it will be finished, but  you can leave it for additional time if you want a thicker bbq sauce. Note that if you aren’t serving it hot, when the sauce cools, it will also thicken up quite a bit.