Authentic Mansaf: A Flavorful Journey into Jordanian Cuisine

Prepare the Meat and Broth

Wash your meat with water and place in a stock pot or pressure cooker.  Add the salt.

Add enough water to cover the meat (about 5 inches above meat level).

Bring the meat to a boil on high heat and let it boil for about 10 minutes, and make sure to scrape off the white foam that forms on the surface of the water while the meat is boiling.

Remove pot from the heat and carefully put the rest of the Meat and Broth ingredients in the pot. Don’t drop ingredients – just carefully place inside the hot broth.

Cover pot or pressure cooker with lid and continue cooking for about an hour, on medium heat. The meat should be cooked, but not too tender because it will be cooking some more.  If you are not using a pressure cooker, cook the meat for 15 minutes longer. (Start preparing your rice while the meat cooks).

Strain and separate the meat from the broth in two different bowls and set aside. Throw away the vegetables and whole spices. You should only have meat and broth. Wash your stock pot, you will be using it again.  Prepare the Jameed Sauce now.

Prepare the Rice

After washing the rice with water, soak it in a bowl of water (at room temperature) with the turmeric for about 20 minutes.

Drain the water out, keeping only the rice. Let the rice sit in the strainer until it is dry.

In a cooking pot, combine the vegetable oil and rice.

Over high heat, stir the rice lightly and add the salt for about two minutes

Add the water and bring rice to boil. Let it boil for about 3-5 minutes.

Cover pot, lower heat to low, and let rice cook for about 35 minutes.

Remove pot from heat and set aside.

Prepare your Jameed Sauce

In your stock pot, put the meat pieces back and pour the jameed and 6 cups of the reserved meat broth over them. Your meat should be completely covered with the sauce (about 2 inches above meat level). If not, just add more of the hot broth.

Bring to boil while stirring lightly with a wooden spoon to ensure the jameed is well blended into the broth. Lower the heat to medium and add the Ghee.  Add salt if needed (Jameed is naturally salty so make sure to taste before adding salt).

Cover pot with lid loosely, leaving an opening for the steam. Cook until the meat is completely cooked and tender for about 45 minutes.  Prepare the Fried Nut Garnishment now.

Fried Nut Garnishment

In a frying pan, combine the vegetable oil and almond over medium high heat and cook until the almonds start to turn golden color. Remove almonds and set aside, keeping oil in the frying pan.

After removing the almonds, add the pine nuts and lightly fry until they are golden color. Remove quickly from the heat and oil and set aside.

Serve Your Mansaf

In a serving platter, distribute the rice evenly over thin saj bread (if available).  Remove the Meat pieces from the Jameed Sauce using a slit spoon and carefully put over the rice.  Sprinkle the Fried Nut Garnishment.  Put the Jameed Sauce in a separate serving bowl and serve along with the rice.  Enjoy!!!!