Chop clean tomatoes into smallish pieces and combine with chopped onion in a largeish pot. Heat until the tomato juice starts to really run, then add your spices, sugar and about half the vinegar.

Cook the bejesus out of the mix until it becomes very soft and mushy, then remove from the heat. Blend or sieve or pulverise the mixture until it is as smooth as you fancy. At this point you should probably give it a taste to see what else needs to be added in the way of spices etc. It may need some more salt, pepper, cayenne, paprika etc. A little turmeric wouldn't hurt here, if that's what you like.

Add the remaining vinegar and simmer until it reaches the required consistency - it will thicken slightly on cooling.

When it's done, let it cool some, then bung it into the containers of your choice.

You can play about with this as much as you like of course, using whatever spices you like, but remember that this is an all-purpose tomato sauce, so don't overdo the cayenne or chili. A clove or two or garlic might be okay, but add it early and, once again, don't overdo.

Ripper.