Food
What to eat, where to find it, what it costs.
235 Food
Ijjeh
Parsley, spring onion and dried mint held together by egg, dropped into hot oil by the spoonful. On the breakfast plate, the mezze tray and inside bread.
Variable — a wrap and a plate are priced separately, ask when you order · Damascus
Stuffed Mallow Leaves: A Spring Sarma
Wild mallow leaf takes the place of the vine leaf. The leaf is seasonal and cannot be brined, which keeps this dish inside a few weeks of the Jazira spring.
Variable — a home dish; what the market sells is the leaf, not the plate · Hasakah
Harees (hrisseh)
Cracked wheat and meat cooked for hours in one pot and beaten to a porridge, finished with melted butter and cinnamon. A spoon dish for iftar and for Easter.
Pounded wheat and meat, with melted butter and cinnamon · Variable — ask the price of a bowl when you order · Aleppo
Spinach fatayer
Raw spinach with sumac and pomegranate molasses, folded into thin dough and closed into a triangle. The sealed pastry of Aleppo and Damascus bakeries.
Triangular pastry sealed over raw spinach, sumac and pomegranate molasses · Variable — sold by the piece at the bakery; ask at the counter · Aleppo
Deiri Kebab
The meat is chopped on the skewer with a cleaver, not minced beforehand, and no spice goes in beyond salt and pepper. It is the signature of the Euphrates.
Variable — the price of lamb moves, ask for the portion price when you order · Deir ez-Zor
Syrian desert truffle (kamaa)
A wild truffle that swells under the desert floor after winter rain. It reaches the markets of Palmyra, Homs and Deir ez-Zor between February and April.
Fresh kamaa by weight; zubaidi is the largest grade · Variable — sold by weight, and the price swings from year to year with the winter rain; ask at the market · Palmyra
Bulgur
Wheat boiled, dried on a roof, hulled and cracked. In the Syrian pantry it stands where rice stands, and kibbeh, tabbouleh and kishk all rest on this grain.
Variable — ask the price by weight at the stall · Hama
Circassian chicken
Poached chicken pulled into threads under a thick sauce of walnuts, stale bread and stock. It belongs to the Circassian community of Syria, and is served cold.
Poached chicken in a thick walnut and bread sauce · Variable — seldom on a menu; ask the price when you order · Damascus
Batata harra
Cubed potato fried first, then tossed with garlic, fresh coriander and chilli. It is never simmered in the sauce; staying crisp is the point of the dish.
Variable — ask the price of a mezze plate when you sit down · Damascus
Basterma
Beef salted, pressed and air-dried, then coated in a crust of fenugreek paste. It came to Aleppo with Armenian charcutiers and stayed as a city taste.
Paper-thin raw slices, or fried with eggs · Variable — sold by weight, priced by the slice; ask at the counter · Aleppo
Balila: Syrian Hot Chickpeas
Boiled chickpeas ladled into a bowl with their own broth, then lemon, garlic, cumin and olive oil. A Damascus winter morning, eaten hot and standing up.
Variable — ask the price of a bowl when you order at the cart · Damascus
Osh el-bulbul
A small nest coiled from shredded kadayif pastry, filled with pistachio or almond and soaked in syrup. The name is the shape: a nightingale’s own nest.
Variable — the pistachio version costs more than the almond; ask at the counter · Damascus
