National Dishes of the World

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Mansaf
Photo: Jktab, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

main dish

Mansaf

منسف (mansaf)

Lamb cooked in a sauce of dried jameed yoghurt, served on rice and thin bread and scattered with almonds.

Eaten in: Jordan

Prep
30 min
Cooking
2 h 30 min
Resting
4 h
Total
7 h
Servings
8

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About the dish

Mansaf is Jordan's ceremonial dish: pieces of lamb on the bone are cooked in a thick, tangy sauce of jameed – hard balls of dried, fermented sheep's or goat's milk yoghurt. Thin shrak bread is spread on a large tray and moistened with sauce, a mound of turmeric-tinted rice goes on top, then the meat, scattered with toasted almonds and pine nuts. Diners stand or sit around the tray and eat together, traditionally with the right hand, shaping the rice and meat into small balls, with extra sauce served in a bowl. Mansaf is a symbol of hospitality and community, made for weddings, holidays and reconciliations.

Main ingredients

  • lamb
  • jameed (dried yoghurt)
  • rice
  • shrak bread
  • ghee
  • almonds
  • pine nuts

Jordan: Jordan's national dish, served at weddings, holidays and important gatherings; inscribed on the UNESCO list in 2022.

More: Wikipedia (en)

Recipe

Mansaf

https://foodmap.ominuvo.com/dish/mansaf

Ingredients

8 servings

8 servings

Method

  1. Break up the jameed balls, cover them with warm water and soak for several hours, then blend into a smooth, pourable sauce.

  2. Cover the meat with cold water, bring to the boil and skim. Add the bay leaves and cardamom and simmer for 1 hour.

  3. Strain the jameed into a large pot and add the meat and about 500 ml of the broth. Heat, stirring constantly in one direction until it boils, so the sauce does not split.

  4. Simmer the meat in the sauce over low heat for about 45 minutes, until very tender. Add salt only if needed.

  5. Rinse the rice, fry it in 2 tbsp ghee with the turmeric, add 750 ml broth, salt and cook, covered, for 15–20 minutes.

  6. Toast the almonds and pine nuts in the remaining ghee until golden.

  7. Lay the bread on a large tray, moisten it with a ladle of sauce, spoon over the rice, then the meat, and scatter with the nuts. Serve the remaining sauce in a bowl.

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