Mansaf

Today half the men in the office disappeared to go pick up giant plates of Mansaf, the Jordanian national dish (also loved in Palestine). It is typically served for festivals and I thought it might be one after all the music and firecrackers I heard last night, but it just felt like one with the entire office gathered together joyfully talking and eating. I didn't know what I was eating until it was explained to me later--the Jameed was somewhat disorienting--but it was delicious!

Mansaf
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 4X as much water 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.

Picture from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mansaf; Recipe from http://www.waleg.com/kitchen/archives/000912.html