Mansaf

I’ve only had Mansaf one time but I 'd have it again in a heartbeat.  Mansaf is a yellow rice with onion and topped with one of three:  lamb, chicken or fish.  It's a Bedouin dish, eaten often in ceremonies or special occasions.  I am writing about Mansaf because it's known to be a very communal style of eating as well as a hearty delicious dish.  So I got the opportunity to eat the this traditional dish from my Mauritani/Sundanese friend Assim who wanted to show me a traditional dish at a local restaurant in Dubai.  And so he took me out to eat.  There are so many hotels with 5star dining in Dubai that you can get jaded with what is local food. In Dubai, I always tried to get out to local restaurants at any opportunity to taste what the local people were eating and try to find out how they were cooking it.  Find out what would be cooked at home. 

The restaurant Assim chose was nothing to look at, very hole in the wall by American standards and a bit grungy.  But I like these types of places, I like the gritty, so it didn’t bother me at all.  The place was filled with the average working class locals, some dressed in western-style clothing and some in more traditional fashion.  There was a main dining area to the right of the entrance and to the left separate rooms for more private dining.  We chose a small private room, it was nice to have some privacy and after the food arrived I realized that we needed the room to eat!  The main dining area had a few tables and chairs and a small t.v. hanging from the ceiling in the corner, the news blaring while customers ate.  The room we were sat in had a few Bedouin rugs on the floor and a few old different shaped pillows.  Not much else decorated the room save a couple pictures on the wall of desert scenes and one of Sheik Mohammad, the king of Dubai.  A man came into the room shortly after we sat and we placed our order, Mansaf with chicken and two laban.  Laban is a salty yogurt drink, strangely enough its great to drink after a night of heavy drinking to ward off any ugly hangovers in the morning.  The salty laban drink was a bit much for me at that time, it has been a taste that I’ve acquired over time and have come to like.  From time to time I have looked for it in local grocery stores outside of the Middle East but to no avail.  We had also brought our own juice and water, as no alcohol is served outside the hotels in Dubai and it is forbidden to drink in Islamic culture in general.  A few minutes later a middle-aged man polite in stature, aged in face came in and laid down old newspaper in front of us over the rugs.  He then proceeded to serve us our drinks and set paper napkins with ancient looking larger, oddly ornate silver spoons.  About 20 minutes later the man came back with a tray of 8 small bowls and two clean towels.  The towels were for wiping our hands as Mansaf is eaten with your hands and two of the bowls had water for dipping your hands.  The other bowls had yogurt, what looked like chicken broth and a tomato puree of sorts.  He returned shortly with a round, large silver tray of a yellow pilaf of rice, carrots and onions topped with a whole stewed chicken taken apart, all beautifully arranged over a paper-thin flatbread and garnished with parsley, pine nuts and slivered almonds.  We poured the yogurt and tomato puree over the pilaf and chicken.  The tomato was spicy, the yogurt fresh and sour adding a refreshing compliment to the rice.  My friend explained that we could either drink the broth or pour it over the dish as well.  We chose to drink it separately to accompany the chicken.  The chicken was cooked perfectly, very moist and falling off the bones, the pilaf was flavorful having been cooked with what seemed many spices like cardamom or nutmeg.  Eating with our hands was messy but I liked it, it was almost as if the food tasted better than if we had used western knives and forks.  The dish was huge and we did the best we could at finishing the whole dish, but we could not and shamefully it is not the custom to take a doggy bag home, so we paid and left the rest of the food behind.  We rolled ourselves out the car and heaved ourselves in, taking off to a cinema and cool off form the heat of Dubai.  What a great meal...  It’s these experiences that keep me traveling, writing and spurning my curiosity on how other people live and eat. 

I have included a recipe of mansaf that Assim had given me from his mother in Mauritani.  I have never made this recipe but I have made a similar dish called Kabsa, a Saudi Arabian meat and rice dish.  But that is for another time, another story!

Mansaf

8-10 servings

Preparation and cooking time:  6 hours

·      ½ pound Jameed (dried yogurt or whey)

·      4 ½ pounds Lamb or chicken, cut into chunks with bones attached

·      2 Onions, small dice

·      ¼ cup Butter, clarified and unsalted

·      3 strands Saffron

·      3 cup Rice, long grain soaked in water for 30min and rinsed well

·      ½ cup Pine nuts

·      ½ cup Almonds, whole and blanched

·      2 TBLS Baharat spice mixture (Allspice, Black peppercorns, Cardamom seeds, Cassia bark, Cloves, Coriander seeds, Cumin seeds, Nutmeg, Paprika)

·      2 pieces Khubz- flat bread, you can use pita if you cannot find this type of bread

·      Salt- to taste

First soak the jamid in cold water to cover for 24 to 48 hours. After that, drain and melt the jamid in a pot with 1 quart of the soaking water over medium heat. Add the remaining 2 quarts soaking water as it evaporates until the mixture has the consistency of yogurt. This could take up to 2 hours.  In the end, you should have about 2 quarts liquid jamid. Strain the jamid through a sieve and set it aside. Save three-quarters of the jamid for the meat and the rest for the rice, which you will cook separately.  Take a large earthenware casserole and heat 5 tablespoons of the clarified butter over medium heat, then cook the lamb until browned on all sides, about 20 minutes. Remove the meat from the casserole and set aside. Pour off all the excess fat and liquid. Saute the onions and then return the meat to the casserole with the reserved three-quarters of jamid, reduce the heat to low, add the remaining 2 cups water, sprinkle on the baharat, and cook, uncovered, until the meat is falling off the bone, about 3 hours. Do not use any salt because the jamid is salty.  Stir the meat so it is mixed well with the spices and yogurt.  Meanwhile, prepare the rice. In a pot with a lid, melt 3 tablespoons of the clarified butter over medium-high heat, and then sauté the rice for 2 minutes, stirring. Pour in 3 cups of the boiling water, the saffron and the salt, bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook until the rice is tender and all the liquid is absorbed, about 20 minutes. When the rice is done, stir in the remaining quarter of the jamid, to make the rice a little watery. Meanwhile, melt 1 tablespoon clarified butter in a small skillet and cook, shaking the skillet, until the butter is golden, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove and set the butter aside. Melt the remaining tablespoon clarified butter in the small skillet and cook the almonds until light golden, about 5 minutes, tossing the nuts. Add the pine nuts and cook until they are golden, about another 3 minutes. Set the nuts aside.  Take a large serving tray or platter and arrange the khubz, overlapping them some, and spread some jamid from the cooked lamb on it to soften the bread. Strain the meat and place it over the bread. Spoon the rice over next and put the remaining jamid sauce from the lamb in a separate bowl with a serving spoon. Sprinkle the pine nuts and almonds over the rice. Pour the reserved 1-tablespoon of melted butter over everything.

It’s a lot to do, but well worth it.  This is a savory, unique dish, great for a special occasion or a large family dinner!