I’m not quite sure why I think this method of cooking tomatoes is Palestinian… but in any case it is a very good one – it’s the charred garlicky-ness that makes it.

It goes particularly well with Indian guinea fowl.

Recipe for Palestinian tomatoes

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 6 large (about 1 kg/2 lbs) flavourful (ie from a hot, sunny country) plum tomatoes
• 1 tsp sweet, smoked Spanish paprika…or if you want them a bit hotter, byadgi chilli, or Aleppo pepper.
• bunch of parsley, chopped – or you could use coriander
• 4 tbsp olive oil – some for frying, some for making the paste
• 6 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tsp textured salt
• Indonesian long pepper

Method

1. Cut the tomatoes vertically in half and core them. Fry, or, even better, griddle them in hottish olive oil, on the cut side, until they start to caramelise and char. 
2. In the meantime peel and crush the garlic with the salt. Mix this with the parsley, the salt, the paprika and the pepper, together with a little oil to make a paste.
3. Turn the tomatoes over, and top with the garlicky-herby paste. Take off the heat immediately – don’t let them go mushy. Keep warm and serve.