Ingredients
Pan
- 1 kgripe tomatoes, roughly chopped
- 100 mlolive oil
- 4 clovesgarlic, sliced
- 2green chillies, sliced
- 1onion, sliced, optional
- 1 tbsptomato paste
- 1 tspsalt
- ½ tspblack pepper
To serve
- khubz or taboon bread
- olives
- labneh
Directions
- Heat the olive oil in a wide shallow pan until it shimmers, and use more of it than feels reasonable.
- Olive oil in quantity is the dish rather than the cooking medium. Galayet means fried, and the tomatoes are meant to fry in oil rather than stew in their own water.
- Fry the garlic and chillies for a minute, until fragrant but not coloured.
- Add the tomatoes and turn the heat up high.
- Cook them hard for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, letting them collapse and then begin to catch and caramelise at the edges of the pan.
- Let them catch. The browning against the pan is where the flavour comes from, and a gentle simmer gives you a bland tomato sauce instead.
- Stir in the tomato paste for the last 5 minutes, which deepens both the colour and the body.
- Season with salt and pepper, tasting first, because ripe tomatoes need far less than out-of-season ones.
- It is done when the oil separates and pools red around the edges and the mixture is thick enough to scoop rather than pour.
- Serve straight from the pan, still bubbling, with bread torn to scoop it up and olives and labneh alongside.
Technique
- It is eaten directly from the pan set in the middle of the table, which is part of what it is.
- Ripe summer tomatoes make an enormous difference. Out of season, add extra tomato paste rather than more tomatoes.
- It is equally a breakfast, a lunch and a late supper, and it takes twenty-five minutes from nothing.
Substitutions
- Tinned chopped tomatoes, drained of most of their juice, out of season.
- Dried chilli flakes if you have no fresh green chilli.
Variations
- With eggs cracked into the pan at the end, close to shakshuka.
- With a spoonful of pomegranate molasses.
- With cubes of lamb fried first and the tomatoes cooked in the same pan.
History
Tomatoes fried hard with olive oil, chilli and onion, then scooped straight from the pan with bread.
Frequently asked questions
What is Galayet bandora?
Galayet bandora is a main from Jordan: tomatoes stewed with olive oil, garlic and chili, scooped with bread. Tomatoes fried hard with olive oil, chilli and onion, then scooped straight from the pan with bread.
How long does Galayet bandora take to make?
Galayet bandora takes 10 min of preparation and 25 min of cooking. The recipe makes 4 servings. It is rated easy to make.
What can I substitute in Galayet bandora?
Yes, within limits. Tinned chopped tomatoes, drained of most of their juice, out of season. Dried chilli flakes if you have no fresh green chilli.
What is the most important thing to get right in Galayet bandora?
Olive oil in quantity is the dish rather than the cooking medium. Galayet means fried, and the tomatoes are meant to fry in oil rather than stew in their own water.
