Mansaf
Mansaf is regarded as the national dish of Jordan, served at weddings and feasts on one large tray that everyone eats from together. Lamb simmered until tender, saffron rice and flatbread, all covered in a sauce of fermented dried yoghurt called jameed and scattered with toasted almonds. Jameed is hard to find outside the Middle East, so this recipe uses thick yoghurt with lemon juice instead. The key rule for the sauce: the yoghurt must be stabilised with egg and starch and stirred constantly, or it splits.
Your own work in that: 15 min.
- Simmering the lamb 130 min
- Yoghurt sauce 35 min
- Rice 25 min
- Assembling 15 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneSimmer the lamb
Put the meat in a large pot (about 6 litres), cover with the cold water, bring to the boil and skim. Add the onion, cardamom, bay leaves, cinnamon, allspice and salt. Simmer covered over low heat for 2 hours, until the meat comes away from the bone.
Ingredients: 1200 g lamb shoulder or neck on the bone, in pieces · 2000 ml water · 1 pcs onion · 5 pcs cardamom pods · 2 pcs bay leaves · 1 pcs cinnamon stick · 5 pcs allspice berries · 2 tsp salt
Two hours at a bare simmer, no hurry.Strain the broth
Lift out the meat and strain the broth. Measure out 600 ml — keep the rest for loosening the sauce.
Ingredients: 1200 g lamb shoulder or neck on the bone, in pieces · 2000 ml water · 1 pcs onion · 5 pcs cardamom pods · 2 pcs bay leaves · 1 pcs cinnamon stick · 5 pcs allspice berries · 2 tsp salt
Prepare the yoghurt
Beat the egg with the cornflour and stir it into the yoghurt with the turmeric and lemon juice. Egg and starch keep the yoghurt from splitting as it heats.
Ingredients: 1000 g thick natural yoghurt · 1 pcs egg (stabilises the sauce) · 1 tbsp cornflour · 2 tbsp lemon juice · ½ tsp turmeric
Cook the sauce
Pour the yoghurt into a large pot and heat over medium heat for about 10 minutes, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon (traditionally in one direction), until it begins to tremble. Only then lower the heat and pour in the hot broth, still stirring. Cook 15 minutes uncovered over low heat, never leaving it unstirred for more than a moment.
Ingredients: 1000 g thick natural yoghurt · 1 pcs egg (stabilises the sauce) · 1 tbsp cornflour · 2 tbsp lemon juice · ½ tsp turmeric
Keep stirring — the sauce stays smooth.Finish the meat
Add the lamb pieces to the sauce and cook together over low heat for 10 minutes, stirring now and then, to take on the flavour. Taste and season with salt.
Ingredients: 1000 g thick natural yoghurt · 1 pcs egg (stabilises the sauce) · 1 tbsp cornflour · 2 tbsp lemon juice · ½ tsp turmeric
Cook the rice
Rinse the rice until the water runs clear. Heat half the ghee, stir in the rice, then add 700 ml of boiling water with the saffron and the salt. Cook covered 12 minutes, then leave 10 minutes off the heat.
Ingredients: 400 g basmati rice · 60 g ghee · 1 pinch saffron · 1 tsp salt for the rice · 60 g flaked or slivered almonds · 30 g pine nuts · 3 pcs shrak bread or large pitas · ½ bunch parsley
Toast the nuts
Heat the remaining ghee and toast the almonds and pine nuts for 3 minutes, stirring constantly, until golden.
Ingredients: 400 g basmati rice · 60 g ghee · 1 pinch saffron · 1 tsp salt for the rice · 60 g flaked or slivered almonds · 30 g pine nuts · 3 pcs shrak bread or large pitas · ½ bunch parsley
Golden, not brown — they burn in seconds.Assemble
Line a large tray with the flatbreads and moisten them with a few ladles of sauce. Spread the rice over them, arrange the meat on top, pour over more sauce and scatter with nuts and parsley. Serve the rest of the sauce in bowls.
Ingredients: 400 g basmati rice · 60 g ghee · 1 pinch saffron · 1 tsp salt for the rice · 60 g flaked or slivered almonds · 30 g pine nuts · 3 pcs shrak bread or large pitas · ½ bunch parsley
Before you start
Jameed
True mansaf uses jameed — dried, fermented and salted yoghurt, usually from sheep's milk, sold as hard balls that are soaked and worked smooth with broth. A few Arab shops and online sellers carry it, sometimes also as liquid jameed in cartons. Without it, thick yoghurt with lemon juice gives a milder sauce without that salty, sour depth.
Why the egg
Yoghurt heated without a stabiliser breaks into curds and whey. Egg and starch protect the proteins from curdling, and constant stirring over gentle heat does the rest — the direction does not matter, only that you keep going. Never cook the sauce hard.
Storage
Meat in sauce keeps 2 days in the fridge. Reheat slowly, stirring; the sauce may need loosening with broth. Keep the rice separately and reheat it with a spoonful of water.
