Romanieh (lentil and eggplant dip)

Romanieh, Rommaniyyah is Palestinian Authentic dish that is originally known in Jaffa, but it also became popular in the closer cities such as Lod. A delicious flavor with sourness because of the pomegranates it contains.Palestinians used sour pomegranate to prepare Romanieh, which the city of Jaffa was famous for, and they used to dry them under sun in summer to be used during the rest of the year.

The Residents of Jaffa took Rummaneyyah with them when they fled to Gaza and it is one of the famous dishes of Gaza.

The combination of lentils and eggplants add the perfect texture to this dip and made it a very suitable vegetarian dish as well.

Romahieh (Palestinian dip)

Ingredients :

1 cup green lentils

7 cups of water

2 medium eggplants peeled and cut into medium-size cubes

1 cup sour pomegranate juice (or 2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses and a juice of 2 lemons)

1 teaspoon cumin (optinal)

Salt to taste

6 cloves of garlic minced

1 Tablespoon sumac (optional)

1 1/2 tablespoons flour

4-6 tablespoons olive oil

hot spices (optional) I didn't add them.

Method :

-Add 7 cups of water along with cumin and lentils to a pot,let water boil then lower the heat ,allow to simmer.

- Let cook just until lentils are almost done (the time will vary depending on the type of lentils you use).

-Add in the eggplant and half of the minced garlic and cook until the cubes are soft.

-Add the salt and sumac,then in a small bowl mix the flour, pomegranate molasses and lemon juice until homogenous.

-Add the pomegranate mix to the eggplants and lentils ,stir until the mix thickens.

-Now In a pan, saute the remaining minced garlic with olive oil until the garlic change in color .

-Pour the saute garlic with olive-oil into eggplant pot and stir.

-Turn off the heat and serve into a plate while hot.

-Decorate with parsley and some fresh pomegranate seeds, serve Rommaniyya with pita bread. **You can check Arabic Flavor for other various middle eastern Arabic authentic recipes :)