Jordanian cuisine was selected for the month of September by dear Arlette . And the Savory Dish that was selected was Mansaf. Mansaf is the national dish of Jordan, it is served on special occasions such as weddings and births, or to honor a guest and feasting on Mansaf is taken seriously, and hours are spent in its preparations.The lamb is cooked is Jameed /dried yogurt and mansaf is served on a large platter with a layer of Arabic flat bread topped with rice and then meat, garnished with almonds and pine nuts.I have to admit that I cooked it Indian way, adding many Indian spices to the meat for our Indian taste buds, which loves spicy foods :) But one can refer here for the authentic recipe.
Ingredients:
2 containers of reek yogurt,
2 lbs of lamb meat with bones,
a pinch of turmeric powder,
1 small onion-finely chopped,
1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste,
1 tsp red chili powder,
1/2 tsp cumin powder,
1/4 tsp black pepper powder,
3 cups jasmine rice or Basmati rice,
1 cardamom,
1 cinnamon,
1 cloves,
1/2 cup of almonds,
1/2 cup of pine nuts,
2-3 Arabic flat bread/ thin Indian roti(chapathi),
1 cup of butter/ ghee and
salt to taste
Method:
In a large pot before turning on the heat pour the yogurt.Bring it to boil on high heat , make sure while you are cooking the yogurt that you are constantly stirring yogurt with a wooden spoon in one direction only. If you started stirring to the left you must keep stirring that way until yogurt starts to boil. Once the yogurt boils turn the heat off.
In another pot cook the meat with the spices- ginger garlic paste, cumin powder, chilli powder, turmeric powder, black pepper powder, onion and some salt. Cover the meat completely with water and cook till the meat is tender. remove the cooked meat and strain the broth to remove the onion pieces.
Now add 2-3 cups of the above broth to the pot of cooked yogurt, add salt and if its not tangy enough, juice of 1/2 lemon van be added to it. Add the lamb meat to the yogurt and broth mixture and cook till it thickens a little bit (like a sauce).
Heat the butter/ghee in another pot and fry the nuts and almonds till light brown. Remove the nuts and in the same butter add the garam masala(spices)- cardamom,cloves and cinnamon and a pinch of turmeric powder. Add rice , water and salt to taste and cook the rice.
When serving put Arabic bread and wet it with some yogurt, then add rice and meat in individual plates and spread cooked yogurt and slivered nuts over it.
