We love a galette! We think of a galette as the rustic, unfussy cousin of the tart. It boasts a crisp yet melt-in-the-mouth pastry which comes together without much hassle.
This galette celebrates the humble tomato. Vinasha is not the biggest tomato fan and was slightly sceptical until she took the first bite. Thus, when we say this galette is scrumptious, we do not say so lightly.
Our tomato galette is inspired from the Mauritian rougaille. What is a rougaille, you might wonder? Rougaille is a popular Creole tomato dish from Mauritius. Its description as a tomato dish, albeit accurate, feels simplistic. We might paint a better picture by saying that rougaille is to Mauritian cuisine what chakalaka is to South African cuisine, or what salsa is to Mexican food.
Rougaille is central to the popular street food dhal puri (see on Instagram), a faithful side to roti-and-curry (see on Instagram) and also a promiscuous base for various ingredients.
Rougaille obtains its unique flavour from a combination of aromatics. Naturally, every household has its own variation but onions, fresh thyme, garlic, curry leaves and chilli feature in most recipes, which we used in our recipe. We incorporated onions in the form of caramelised onions. We also roasted baby tomatoes with garlic, curry leaves, fresh thyme and chilli flakes. This filling was layered onto a shortcrust pastry base sprinkled with cumin seeds. Finally, we baked the galette until the pastry was golden.
QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE ABOUT THIS TOMATO GALETTE
Can I use larger tomatoes?
Yes! Thick slices of a firm tomato will also work.
Can I omit the curry leaf?
Absolutely! Whilst the curry leaf adds to the rougaille flavour, the galette will still be delicious without it.
Rougaille Spiced Galette
Ingredients
For the dough
- 2 cups all purpose flour plus more for dusting
- ½ tsp salt
- 160 g cold butter cut into cubes
- 3 tbsp ice cold water (you might need less)
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
Filling
- 250 g mini tomatoes
- 2 medium brown onions
- 10 curry leaves
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
- ½ tsp red chilli flakes optional
Topping
- 1 tsp mixed poppy seeds
- 1 egg wash, or milk (for brushing)
Instructions
Galette dough
- Place the flour, salt and butter in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Alternatively, rub in the butter by hand.
- Add the water, one tablespoon at a time and pulse a couple of times until the mixture starts coming together.
- Tip the mixture onto a clean surface and bring into a dough ball.
- Slightly press the ball into a disc, wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for at least 1 hour to overnight.
The filling
- Preheat oven to 180°C.
- Cut tomatoes into half and mix in chopped curry leaves, thyme, salt and pepper.
- Transfer onto a baking sheet. Add a drizzle of olive oil and roast for 15 minutes.
- In the meantime, thinly slice the onions. Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a pan over medium heat and stir in the onions with a pinch of salt.
- Cook the onions, stirring occasionally, for about 20 mins or until 'caramelised'. Set aside.
Assembling the galette
- Take the dough out of the fridge 10 mins prior to rolling.
- Cut the dough into 4 roughly equal pieces and roll each piece into a ball.
- Roll each ball between 2 pieces of parchment into a 4-5 mm thick circle (no need to be precious about getting a perfect circle). Sprinkle with cumin seeds and give one last roll to press the seeds in.
- Place the caramelised onions on the rolled dough, followed by the roasted tomatoes, leaving a 3 cm border all around.
- Start to fold the edge of the dough up and over the tomatoes. Keep folding from one side, overlapping the dough edge as you go around.
- Brush the edge with egg wash or milk and sprinkle with poppy seeds.
- Bake for 20 mins or until golden at 180°C.