Ijjeh

In ijjeh the egg is not the main ingredient but the binder. The greens make the dish: plenty of parsley, spring onion or leek, dried mint, spice, sometimes a spoon of flour. The mixture goes into hot oil a spoonful at a time and fries into small green patties. Firmer than a French omelette, and crusted on the outside.

What the egg is doing

Holding the greens. The proportions say it: there is more parsley on the plate than egg, and just enough egg to keep the mixture from falling apart in the pan. That is why ijjeh comes out green rather than yellow, and why it does not stay soft inside when you cut it. The oil has to be hot for the crust to set. In warm oil the mixture opens up and the plate is lost.

Where you meet it

In three places. On the breakfast plate beside olives and labneh, on the mezze tray as a small dish, and inside bread. The last is the most common: it is rolled into a wrap with pickles and lemon, and it is eaten cold as well. That is why it travels. A cold ijjeh wrap on a bus or by the road is ordinary.

It appears often at suhoor during Ramadan, and during Lent on the days when eggs are allowed. Since it takes minutes at home, the pan also comes out for a light supper.

The versions

The one with potato is the best known; grated potato joins the greens and the plate turns filling. Courgette in summer, minced lamb at the evening table. There is also an oven version cooked in one piece in a pan and cut into slices; then ijjeh is not a patty but something closer to a thick flatbread.

Not the same as jaz maz

Both have egg and both come out of a pan, but they are separate dishes. Jaz maz belongs to the coast and is built on tomato: eggs are broken over tomatoes cooking in fat. Ijjeh is built on greens and is fried; no tomato goes in, and the mixture is made up first and then dropped into the oil. In Latakia you ask for jaz maz. In Damascus, for ijjeh.