Ancho Chile Ketchup

From A Cowboy in the Kitchen (Ten Speed Press)
Forget the barbecue sauce! This simple tomato-based ketchup is sweetened with brown sugar and spiced up with the flavor of ancho chiles. It’s great on all types of meat and poultry, even on burgers. Ancho chiles are dried poblano chiles and have a sweet, spicy flavor.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:
12 ancho chile peppers, stemmed and seeded
1/2 white onion, diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
6 cups water
5 teaspoons packed brown sugar
2 Tablespoons ground cumin
2 cups tomato paste
Kosher salt to taste
Freshly ground pepper to taste
Preparation:
Place the ancho chile peppers, onion, and garlic in a large saucepan and cover with the water. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the peppers have absorbed some liquid and have become soft.

Remove the peppers, onion, and garlic with a slotted spoon and transfer them to a food processor. Add the brown sugar, cumin, tomato paste and 1 cup of the liquid the peppers were cooked in. Puree, adding more pepper liquid until you reach the desired thickness. Adjust seasonings with salt, pepper and more brown sugar if desired.

Spoon the ketchup into a glass container and store it in the refrigerator until ready for use.

Yield: about 5 cups

Source: A Cowboy in the Kitchen: Recipes From Reata and Texas West of the Pecose by Grady Spears, Walsh Robb, Spears Grady, Robb Walsh, John Westerdahl (Ten Speed Press)
Reprinted with permission.