The Levant and Anatolia · Volume 04, The Jameed, the Taboon and the Zarb Pit
Rummaniyeh
The wider Palestinian coast, Jaffa and Lydd
An illustration of the dish, not a photograph of it cooked.
- Time
- 30 minutes
- Reviewed
- Not yet reviewed from inside the tradition
- Cooked
- Not yet cooked and reported
A dark, tart lentil and aubergine stew bound with pomegranate molasses, rooted on the wider Palestinian coast around Jaffa and Lydd before becoming one of Gaza's own best-loved dishes.
As tradition built it
About 30 minutes' simmering once the lentils are underway; no serving count given by this chapter's sources.
Ingredients
- 250g brown lentils
- 1, peeled and cubed aubergine, fried or roasted
- 4 to 6 large cloves, crushed garlic
- 1 heaped tbsp cumin
- 150ml pomegranate molasses
- 1 pomegranate, seeded whole pomegranate seeds
- 50ml, plus extra to finish olive oil, to finish
Method
- Boil the brown lentils until tender.
- Combine with fried or roasted aubergine, garlic, cumin, pomegranate molasses and whole pomegranate seeds, and simmer together until the flavours marry into a thick, dark, tart stew.
- Finish with olive oil.
Notes
This chapter's research corrects an assumption this atlas's own planning notes carried: rummaniyeh's roots lie not in Gaza originally but on the wider Palestinian coast, specifically Jaffa and Lydd, and it spread to and became especially popular in Gaza rather than being invented there, a distinction several Arabic-language sources state explicitly. It remains, today, one of Gaza's own best-loved dishes regardless of where it began.
What a modern chef changes
Direct-ember aubergine, a concentrated molasses, and a silkier base kept honest to its rustic texture
Ember-roasted aubergine, reduced molasses, blended and passed lentils
Method
- Roast the aubergine whole over the Big Green Egg's direct coals rather than frying it, for a genuinely smoky depth that plays directly into the dish's own already dark, tart character rather than fighting it.
- Reduce the pomegranate molasses separately in a wide pan to a thicker, more concentrated syrup before it joins the pot, then adjust the whole stew's own sweetness and acidity against that concentrated base rather than against a thinner shop-bought molasses straight from the bottle.
- Blend a portion of the finished lentils in the high-power blender and pass it through the chinois for a silkier base, then fold the whole lentils, aubergine and pomegranate seeds back through it, keeping the dish's own rustic texture on the spoon while giving its underlying body more polish.