Mansaf

Mansaf

250px A dish of sakib mansaf
Origin
Place of origin	Jordan
Region or state	Jordan, Palestine, Iraq, Syria, and Saudi Arabia
Details
Course served	Meal
Main ingredient(s)	lamb, yogurt , rice or bulgur, melilotus, shrak bread

Mansaf (Arabic: منسف‎‎) is a traditional Jordanian and Palestinian dish made of lamb cooked in a sauce of fermented dried yogurt and served with rice or bulgur. It is the national dish of Jordan and it is also common in Palestine, Iraq, Syria, and Saudi Arabia. The name of the dish comes from the term "large tray" or "large dish".

Preparation

The lamb is cooked in a broth made with a fermented then dried yogurt-like product called jameed, and served on a large platter with a layer of flatbread (markook or shrak) topped with rice and then meat, garnished with almonds and pine nuts, and then sauce poured over all.

Cultural and political role

Mansaf, as historian and anthropologist Yousef Ghawanmeh states in his book The cultural history of Jordan during the Mamluk period 1250–1517, is associated with a traditional Jordanian culture based on an agro-pastoral lifestyle in which meat and yogurt are readily available. Mansaf is served on special occasions such as weddings, births and graduations, or to honor a guest, and on major holidays such as Eid ul-Fitr, Eid ul-Adha, and Jordan's Independence Day. It is traditionally eaten collectively from a large platter in the Bedouin and rural style, standing around the platter with the left hand behind the back and using the right hand instead of utensils.

Though mansaf is frequently referred to as Jordan's "national dish", anthropologist Joseph Andoni Massad states that mansaf is not a truly "traditional" dish, but is rather a more recent dish which was developed during the Hashemite-Mandatory era of the early 20th century, and then promulgated as a "national" dish following independence. Massad notes that the current form of mansaf differs from the independence-era and Mandate-era recipes, but is portrayed by the state as a dish that is both national and a Bedouin tradition, despite it also historically being a dish of the peasants and Bedouins of the neighboring regions of Palestine and Syria.

Regions and variants

The cities of Al Karak, As-Salt, and Hebron and their countrysides are reputed to make the best mansaf in Jordan and West Bank. Other variants of the dish also exist and are adapted to the regional tastes and circumstance. These include fish mansaf, found in the south around the port city of Aqaba. An urban, less ceremonial adaptation of mansaf using non-dried yogurt is called shakreyyeh. It is sometimes cooked with poultry instead of lamb and is common in the northern part of Jordan.

See also

• Jordanian cuisine
• Palestinian cuisine
• List of lamb dishes

Bibliography

• The Jordan Heritage Encyclopedia/ vol. 1–5: Rox Bin Za’id Al-Uzaizi.
• Cultural history of Jordan during the Mamluk period 1250–1517. Professor Yousef Ghawanmeh. 1979, Workers Cooperative Society presses. Amman, Jordan. 1982, Yarmouk University. Irbid, Jordan. 1986, Ministry of Culture and Youth. Amman, Jordan. 1992, University of Jordan. Amman, Jordan.