That Translator Can Cook: Mansaf
Roasted goat or lamb marinated in a tangy yogurt sauce, served over a bed of rice and shrak bread, and sprinkled with nuts (pine nuts, almonds, peanuts).
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I’ve had mansaf lots of times in Jordan (especially during Ramadan) and once at a wedding in Palestine; it’s delicious! I can’t it’s my favorite, but mansaf is definitely one of the top dishes in the Levant that I like.
Mansaf is the national dish of Jordan because it’s rooted in Jordan’s Bedouin heritage, but mansaf is also popular in Palestine, Iraq, Syria, and Saudi Arabia with some slight variation in ingredients/preparation. Originally, the Bedouins (nomadic people of the Sinai and Arabian Peninsulas) made mansaf with camel or lamb meat, cooked with ghee or broth, and served with shrak or markook bread (thin pita bread). It wasn’t until the 1920s, when rice and jameed were added to mansaf. Jameed is basically dried laban, which is fermented cheese that is not quite solid. You can make laban using this recipe, and you can make jameed by keeping laban in cheesecloth until it’s solid; just know that jameed can take weeks to fully dry.
According to Wadi Rum Nomads, mansaf was mentioned in Bible (Genesis 18:6-8) when Abraham and Sarah prepared a meal similar to Tharid. Other sources have suggested that mansaf evolved from tharid, and indeed they are similar in that they are both dishes consisting of thin pita bread topped with red meat and its sauce. Keeping with Bedouin tradition, mansaf is usually served on a large platter meant to be shared by several people, but it can be served on individual plates. Mansaf is pretty much served at all major holidays (Ramadan, Eid, Easter, Independence Day, etc.) and events (weddings, graduations, to honor guests, etc.).
Here is how to make mansaf (recipe belongs to Dodi [دودي])!
Ingredients
Serves 8 people
About 5 or 6 discs of traditional jameed, depending on your taste
4 kilos of traditional meat (lamb, goat, or any other kind of red meat)
1.5 kilos of medium- or small-grain rice
1 tablespoon of ghee (optional)
4 bay leaves or cardamom pods 1
large onion, chopped
1 teaspoon of turmeric or safflower
Minced parsley and toasted nuts for garnishing
Salt
Instructions
After crushing them, soak the jameed discs overnight so that they will dissolve in hot water. In the morning, put the jameed pieces and a cup of hot water in a blender. Pulse until the mixture is liquefied and set aside.
After cleaning the meat well, boil it with the spices (bay leaves, cardamom pods, the large onion chopped into four pieces, and a teaspoon of turmeric) for no less than forty-five minutes or depending on the type of meat you're using. Note: the salt is added before cooking the meat, so that it sticks to the meat you have.
After it’s cooked through, strain the chunks of meat from the broth and set it aside. After separating the scum from the spices, take the same amount of meat broth that is equal to the liquid jameed. In a pot on the stove, mix the liquid jameed with the meat broth, stirring continuously until it boils. Lower the heat a bit and let it simmer until the sauce thickens. Put the meat back in with the jameed sauce, let it boil for a bit, and then turn off the burner.
Add three tablespoons of olive oil or ghee and toast the rice with it for bit. Add enough hot water to cover the rice and cook it on high heat until the water is absorbed. Turn down the heat until the rice is fully cooked. With regards to the rice’s color, it depends on your taste and it varies from region to region. Some people like turmeric, meaning it will be yellow, and there are some who prefer it to be white. The jameed sauce needs to be yellow.
Lay the shrak (bread) on the serving platter. Soak the shrak with the mansaf broth until the bread softens. Place the rice on top, laid flat or shaped like a pyramid, then pour the meat on top of the rice. Garnish with the parsley and toasted nuts.
Serve the jameed sauce on the side to moisten the rice.
You can serve whichever appetizers you want. Usually, fresh herbs like cilantro, basil, or scallions are served as side for mansaf; or you could make a salad made with chopped basil, sliced onions, sumac, and lemon juice.
A tablespoon of ghee can be added to the jameed sauce for extra flavor. Bon appetit!
Translators’ Discussion
I notice that بلدي is used to describe some ingredients in a lot of recipes, but بلدي was used quite a lot in this one. I know that it means “indigenous” or “native,” but it sounds weird to use that in a recipe. I was going to use “Jordanian” since this is a Jordanian recipe, but again, something like “Jordanian meat” seems odd. I went with ‘traditional’ because it seemed to capture the meaning and sound less weird. How would you translate بلدي?
This sentence gave me trouble: ملاحظه الملح يضاف قبل الأستواء لحتى ما تشد اللحمه معك
How would you have translated this sentence?I translated من محافظه لا محافظه as “from region to region.” Is this a common phrase in MSA or Jordanian dialect? I have never seen this phrase before.