Yalanji

Who invented yalanji? Lots of places would love to claim that honour, and it is eaten with abandon in many Middle Eastern countries. In Syria, we eat stuffed (grape) leaves as a cold mezze.

The word yalanji, as we call it in Syria, is borrowed from Turkish and means ‘liar’. There are two traditional fillings, one with meat, and another without. The meatless filling is the ‘liar’, an impostor. In this recipe, I use chard leaves and pomegranate molasses for a sweet–sour taste.