Steak Sauce

Method

1. Peel, core and chop the 100 g of cooking apple into rough 1 cm pieces. Finely chop the 50 g of onion and chop the 40 g of stoned dates — the finer the dates, the more readily they melt into the sauce.
2. Tip the apple, onion and dates into a small heavy-based saucepan (stainless steel or enamelled, not bare aluminium, which reacts with vinegar). Add the 1 tbsp of tamarind paste, 80 ml of malt vinegar and 60 ml of water.
3. Stir in the 1 tbsp of black treacle, 1 tbsp of dark brown sugar and 1 tbsp of tomato purée, then season with the 0.25 tsp of ground allspice, 0.25 tsp of ground black pepper, 1 pinch of cayenne and 0.25 tsp of salt.