Batata harra

The potato is cut into cubes and fried first. In a second pan, pounded garlic, fresh coriander, chilli and lemon meet in olive oil, and the potato goes in last. It is tossed in the sauce, never simmered in it. Staying crisp depends on that order.

Coriander and garlic

This pair is the signature. Not cumin, not paprika: fresh coriander builds the smell and garlic holds it. Take the coriander out and you have some other dish of fried potato. The heat can also come from Aleppo pepper, and then it is deep rather than sharp.

Where you meet it

Among the hot plates of a mezze tray, beside eggs at breakfast, and inside bread. It also arrives as part of a makali plate with falafel and fried cauliflower; that plate is fried food from end to end, and batata harra is the piece people go for.

The name travelled as well. Batata in Arabic is a loan from Portuguese, and harra means hot. So the dish is named with a New World vegetable and a Levantine adjective.

Is it Syrian

The sources treat it as shared between Lebanon and Syria, and this page does not hand it to Syria alone. Within Syria it is common in Damascus and along the coast. People say it is made with more lemon in Latakia and more garlic in Damascus, but that shifts from kitchen to kitchen rather than being a rule.

How to order it

Getting it hot matters; batata harra that has stood goes soft and loses the one thing it claims. You can set the heat when you order. It is a safe plate for a vegetarian table, with no meat and no dairy in it.