Jordan National Dish, Mansaf

Each country has its national dish, which it is famous for. Jordan has a certain dish that is fantastic and extremely yummy, the Mansaf. What makes this dish special is the white sauce it is mainly made of, salted dried goat milk “Jameed”.
Jordanians are well known for their hospitality, and the Mansaf plays a big part in the hosting of guests. It is served in a big round tray, and people eat it using their bare hands, this might sound uncivilized, but it is not, it is actually part of the Jordanian tradition
which has been a characteristic of Jordanian history for years on end.

Mansaf has three basic ingredients; rice, lamb meat and goat milk.

Ingredients:

1 kilo cooked rice "washed, boiled in water and with butter added at the end”
1 kilo lamb meat “cut in big chunks”
1 big whole onion
½ kilo liquid salted goat milk “you can buy it from the super store or a “Jordanian house” store, the product is called Jameed El-Kasih”
Pine nuts “fried”

Wash the meat and drain it until it has gotten rid of all its excess water, put it in a big pot and pour the Jameed or goat’s milk over it, add 4 as much water “2 liters” to the milk, cook it on a high fire and drop the onion in the pot. Let it boil for one hour, then lower the heat and leave the pot uncovered, stirring occasionally.
To cook properly, it needs three hours on the fire.
When done and the meat is soft and properly cooked, put the rice in a big round tray, and put the meat over it, pour some Jameed over them all and sprinkle the pine nuts all over the tray.
Pour the rest of the Jameed in a bowl and keep it on the table in case you would like to pour some more over the rice to make it soggier.

Sahtain wa 3afieh !

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