The New Pipeline
Based on:
TypeMain course
Serves4 people
DateAugust 17, 2026
A Syrian oven dish honoring the new oil pipeline, complete with edible route and tankers.
A neat rectangular oven dish with an 'aubergine pipeline' over a bed of Syrian bulgur, a stripe of tomato sauce (the route), and four black olives as oil tankers by the coast. The plating directly references the new oil route to Banyas.
Ingredients
- 300 g bulgur
- 2 eggplants
- 2 red onions
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 can diced tomatoes (400 g)
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 1 lemon
- 100 g feta cheese
- 16 black olives
- 1 bunch flat-leaf parsley
- salt and pepper
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200°C.
- Cook the bulgur according to package instructions, season with salt, pepper, and a splash of olive oil.
- Slice the eggplants lengthwise into 1 cm thick slices. Brush with olive oil and roast for 15 minutes on a baking tray.
- Finely chop the onions and garlic. Sauté in 2 tbsp olive oil in a pan, add tomato paste and fry briefly.
- Add diced tomatoes, cumin, cinnamon, salt, and pepper. Simmer for 10 minutes until thick.
- Grease a rectangular oven dish. Spread the bulgur evenly as a flat base.
- Spoon the tomato sauce as a broad diagonal stripe over the bulgur: this is the 'route'.
- Lay the roasted eggplant slices as a straight line over the sauce, corner to corner: this is the 'pipeline'.
- Crumble the feta along the pipeline as bits of infrastructure.
- Slice the lemon into thin half-moons and place them at the 'coast' (edge of the dish).
- Place four black olives at the end of the pipeline as tankers in the port.
- Bake the dish for 10 minutes until everything is heated through.
- Garnish with chopped parsley and serve immediately.
Serving notes
- Serve on a large rectangular dish for maximum visual effect.
- Show everyone at the table how the pipeline and tankers mark the route.
- Present with extra olive oil and lemon wedges on the side.