Yabrak

A vine leaf is opened flat on the palm, a line of filling is laid across it, the sides are folded in and it is rolled to the thickness of a finger. In Damascus the plate is called yabrak. What is rolled here is the leaf; hollowed vegetables belong under mahshi on this site, and the two are counted as separate dishes in the kitchen as well as at the table.

With meat and without

Two different dishes from the same leaf. The meat version is filled with rice and minced lamb and cooked in the pot over lamb ribs with lemon and garlic; it is served hot, with yoghurt alongside. The other is called yalanji, a word that came into Arabic from Turkish and means the false one. It is filled with rice, tomato, onion, parsley and a lot of olive oil, then left to cool and served as a mezze plate. If you do not say which one you want, there is no telling which arrives.

Where the leaf comes from

In spring it is fresh. The young leaves picked from the vines in April and May are thin and soft and need only a short blanching; they are sold in bunches in the Damascus markets. The rest of the year the leaf is brined: saltier, thicker, rinsed before use. The difference shows on the plate, because a fresh leaf falls apart in the mouth.

When it is eaten

The meat version is lunch and party food; it takes hours to prepare and counts as one of the heavier jobs in a household kitchen. Yalanji belongs to summer and to the mezze round, cold. During Ramadan and the holidays both appear on the same table.

Where a traveller finds it

Yalanji is on almost every mezze table, among the cold plates. The meat version is easier to find at home-style pot kitchens at lunchtime and is often absent from evening menus. In the market, fresh leaves in season and brined leaves all year.