Mansaf

Ingredients

Jameed sauce

• 800 gjameed, the hard dried fermented sheep-milk balls, broken up and soaked overnight in 2 litres of water
• 500 mlplain yogurt, optional, for smoothness
• 1 tbspcornflour slaked in 3 tbsp water, as insurance

Lamb

• 2 kglamb shoulder and neck on the bone, cut into large pieces
• 1onion, halved
• 1cinnamon stick, 6 cardamom pods, 1 tsp black peppercorns, 2 bay leaves
• 3 tbspsamneh (clarified sheep butter)
• 1 tspground turmeric, 1 tsp Jordanian baharat

Rice and platter

• 800 gEgyptian short-grain or basmati rice, rinsed and soaked 30 min
• 2 tbspsamneh, 1 tsp turmeric, salt
• 3large sheets shrak or markook, the paper-thin saj bread
• 100 gblanched almonds and 60 g pine nuts, fried in samneh until gold
• 1 handfulflat-leaf parsley, chopped

Directions

1. Soak the broken jameed overnight in cold water, then blend it in batches with its soaking water until completely smooth and pass it through a sieve. It should be the thickness of single cream and taste aggressively salty and sour.
2. Boil the lamb in fresh water with the onion, cinnamon, cardamom, peppercorns and bay for 15 minutes, skimming the scum hard, then drain, rinse the meat and start again with clean water.
3. Simmer the lamb gently for 1 hour 30 minutes until it is nearly falling from the bone. Lift out the meat and strain and reserve 1 litre of the broth.
4. Brown the lamb pieces in the samneh with the turmeric and baharat for 5 minutes so they take colour and gloss.
5. Pour the sieved jameed and the reserved broth into a wide pot and bring it to a simmer over medium heat, stirring constantly in one direction with a wooden spoon. Do not stop stirring until it boils, or it will split into curds and whey.
6. Once it boils, lower the heat and let it burble 30–40 minutes, still stirring often, until it thickens slightly and loses its raw edge. Slip the lamb in and simmer 20 minutes more. Add the slaked cornflour only if it looks like separating.
7. Cook the rice with the samneh, turmeric and salt in 1.2 litres of the remaining broth or water, covered, 15 minutes, then rest 10 minutes off the heat and fork it loose.
8. Line a wide shallow platter (the sidr) with the shrak bread and ladle over enough hot jameed sauce to soak it through completely.
9. Mound the rice over the bread, arrange the lamb on top, and scatter over the fried almonds, pine nuts and parsley. Send the rest of the jameed sauce to the table in jugs, to be poured on as people eat.
10. Eat standing around the platter, with the right hand only, rolling the rice and meat into a ball against the palm.

Technique

• Jameed is the dish. It is sheep or goat yogurt, salted, drained, shaped into stones and sun-dried for weeks, and the best comes from Karak. Plain yogurt alone gives a pale imitation.
• Stirring in one direction until the boil is not superstition: dried yogurt protein curdles instantly if it hits high heat unagitated. Some cooks stabilise with a little cornflour or an egg white.
• Mansaf is the national dish and a social contract. It is served at weddings, funerals and reconciliations, and the honoured guest is given the head or the shoulder.
• Never serve mansaf with a fork if you can help it, and never with the left hand.

Substitutions

• No jameed: use 1 kg of strained sheep yogurt thinned with broth, 2 tsp of salt and 1 tbsp of lemon juice, stabilised with the cornflour. It is Jordanian-adjacent, not mansaf.
• No shrak: use large thin markook, lavash or even good pitta split into single layers and dried briefly in the oven.
• Ghee stands in for samneh, but sheep samneh is what gives mansaf its particular barnyard richness.

Variations

• Mansaf made with goat, or in Bedouin camps with a young camel.
• Mansaf sifri, a paler, older version made without turmeric.
• Palestinian and Syrian versions, thinner in sauce and often served over rice with no bread layer.

History

Jordan’s national dish of lamb in jameed sauce over shrak bread; UNESCO inscribed the mansaf banquet tradition in 2022.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mansaf?

Mansaf is a main from Jordan: lamb cooked in jameed yogurt over shrak and rice; eaten communally. Jordan’s national dish of lamb in jameed sauce over shrak bread; UNESCO inscribed the mansaf banquet tradition in 2022.

How long does Mansaf take to make?

Mansaf takes 40 min plus overnight soaking of preparation and 3 hr of cooking. The recipe makes 8 servings. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Mansaf?

Yes, within limits. No jameed: use 1 kg of strained sheep yogurt thinned with broth, 2 tsp of salt and 1 tbsp of lemon juice, stabilised with the cornflour. It is Jordanian-adjacent, not mansaf. No shrak: use large thin markook, lavash or even good pitta split into single layers and dried briefly in the oven. Ghee stands in for samneh, but sheep samneh is what gives mansaf its particular barnyard richness.

What is the most important thing to get right in Mansaf?

Pour the sieved jameed and the reserved broth into a wide pot and bring it to a simmer over medium heat, stirring constantly in one direction with a wooden spoon. Do not stop stirring until it boils, or it will split into curds and whey.