Mansaf Recipe
Mansaf is one of the most famous dishes of Jordanian cuisine. Served with flat bread, bringing rice and lamb together, mansaf becomes suitable for the taste of many eastern and middle eastern countries with the combination of this trio.
The most important feature of the mansaf is the use of jameed (dried yogurt, which we know and use as keş), which is a special local ingredient, in its sauce. This ingredient makes the mansaf not a dish that anyone can easily cook at home. For this reason, some of the online recipes call for yogurt as an alternative. But those who know the taste of keşl will understand very well that yoghurt can never be an alternative to keş, because their flavors are really different. Fortunately, I shared keş recipe before, and now many of you have homemade keş at home. For this reason, we can make mansaf in accordance with the original recipe with peace of mind.
Looking at the ingredient list, it may seem like a bit of a hard to make dish. But it is not at all. It just looks like that because it also contains pilaf. Otherwise, it's just a dish of boiled lamb meat and an easy sauce.
The lamb is boiled with the addition of onion, bay leaf and cardamom. Meanwhile, the sauce is being prepared. For the sauce, you can soak and soften the keş overnight, or you can make it easier to cook by grating it before using like I did. In any case, the sauce is cooked for a long time, because when it is mixed with water, it does not melt and set. You see grains cooking in water for a long time, prepare yourself for this. When it is cooked, it is not a smooth, perfectly viscous sauce anyway, it still has the appearance and consistency of curdled yogurt. You can see the image in the photos enough to give an idea.
The pilaf is prepared with saffron, but saffron is not an indispensable ingredient for this recipe, as it is in the zerde recipe. So you can scook it with or without saffron.
The pine nuts used for serving can also be replaced. You can use unshelled almonds instead of pine nuts.
Enjoy ...
Ingredients
- 1.5 kg of chopped bone-in lamb meat,
- 1 onion,
- 2 bay leaves,
- 2 cardamom,
- Salt.
For Pilaf:
- 5-6 tablespoons of olive oil,
- 1.5 cups of rice,
- 2.5 cups of boiling water,
- Salt,
- Saffron with the tip of a teaspoon.
For the sauce;
- 3 tablespoons of grated jameed/Turkish dried kes,
- 1 tablespoon of butter,
- 2 cups of water,
- 1/4 teaspoon of turmeric,
- Black pepper,
- Salt.
For serving;
- Flour tortillas,
- 3-4 tablespoons of pine nuts,
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil,
- Chopped parsley.
Preparation
- Take the lamb into the pressure cooker,
- Add coarsely chopped onion, bay leaves, cardamom and salt,
- Add enough water to cover them all, cover the lid and cook until the meat softens according to the cooking time of your pot,
- Meanwhile, mix the grated jameed and water in a sauce pan and cook on medium heat until it is reduced to half,
- For the pilaf, heat the oil, add the washed and drained rice, and stir fry until the rice start to stick to each other,
- Add water, salt and saffron and mix,
- Cover the lid and cook on low heat until the water is absorbed,
- Pulse the sauce with an immersion blender until it becomes as homogeneous as possible,
- Add butter, turmeric, black pepper, salt and a cup of broth and mix,
- Drain and take the meat in a separate saucepan, add the sauce, cover and cook on low heat for 10-15 minutes.,
- Place tortillas on a large serving plate and spread the rice over it,
- Place the meat on the rice and pour the sauce over,
- Heat the olive oil in a separate pan, add the pine nuts and roast until they turn brown,
- Sprinkle the roasted pine nuts and chopped parsley over the meats.
Bon Appetit...