Raheb salad

The aubergine is left on the flame until the skin blackens, then peeled and chopped coarsely. It is not mashed, and that is the first thing separating raheb salad from the other aubergine plates on a Damascus table. Tomato, onion either dried or fresh, plenty of parsley, pomegranate molasses or lemon and olive oil go on top. It comes out cold.

Why the monk’s salad

Raheb means monk, and the name says fasting outright. No meat on the plate, no dairy, not even tahini. It goes on the table during the Christian Great Lent and at a Ramadan iftar alike, one of the few dishes those two calendars share in Damascus. Fasting food is not a separate department in Syria; it is the same kitchen with the meat taken out, and this salad is its best known example.

How it differs from mutabbal and batarsh

All three start with charred aubergine and then part ways. Mutabbal is mashed and takes tahini, so its texture is a paste. Batarsh belongs to Hama: mashed aubergine, yoghurt, tahini and minced lamb. Raheb is neither mashed nor given tahini.

The two Arabic names carry the same split. Mutabbal al-raheb describes the mashed version, salatat al-raheb the chopped one. Whichever is written on the menu is the texture you get, and ordering one while expecting the other means finding something quite different under your fork.

When to eat it

In summer. In aubergine season the taste changes noticeably, while in winter the plate either drops off the menu or loses its point. It arrives among the cold plates of a mezze tray and sits well beside the grill, where the smoke of the charring meets the fat of the meat.

How to order it

Ask for the salad if you want it chopped and for mutabbal if you want it mashed. Pomegranate molasses changes from cook to cook and is what decides the plate, so asking for it light is a fair request. Asking for the bread to come out hot is worth the sentence.