Many moons ago when I first got married, my husband took me on a trip to a foreign land. It was the first time I’d been anywhere apart from Pakistan or Saudi Arabia (I was very lucky to have made my first umrah trip just a year before) and I was really excited.

I didn’t really know what to expect because, at that time, I didn’t know many people who had been there. This ended up being a good thing, because upon reflection, it meant that I took everything as a new experience. AlhamduLillah it was a very spiritually uplifting trip, although I remember it took time to get used to the slower rhythm of life there and to actually make some friends since my husband and I weren’t able to socialise much together!

Anyway, one of the highlights of the trip was definitely a day out visiting the local maqams. After we’d been taken around by a local ‘tourist/maqam guide’, in his mini-van we were treated to a local Jordanian dish in his home.

In hindsight, the barakah of the trip probably had a lot to do with whose presence we’d just been in, but I remember being completely bowled over by this magnificent dish which was presented to us. A mesmerising concoction of large pieces of tender lamb on a bed of rice, topped with creamy yoghurt broth sauce, mmmm delicious!

Mansaf is a traditional Jordanian and Palestinian dish made of lamb cooked in a sauce of fermented dried yogurt and served with rice or bulgur. … The name of the dish comes from the term “large tray” or “large dish”.

I remember trying this recipe a few years ago and although we loved it, I haven’t had another go until just now. Maybe my first attempt didn’t live up to our expectations? Maybe the children weren’t old enough to enjoy it and we had too much left over? I actually can’t remember!

Now, there’s been a massive change in the influence of foodies around the world as our recipes are now shared more readily online than ever before. So after some deliberation and consideration, we finally fell upon this awesome recipe!

Please do read on to find out how I made it. I’ve even added a short video to show you how to plate this dish too!

Ingredients:

1 large shoulder of lamb, cut up into big chunky pieces

4 cups of rice

1 litre of yoghurt

1 carton of single cream

12-16 cardamom seeds

6-8 pieces of cinnamon bark

6-8 cloves

2 tablespoons of salt

1 teaspoon of turmeric

1 cup of flaked almonds

1 cup of raisins

A handful of freshly chopped parsley

Method:

1. You need to know that this recipe consists of 4 main components of food which will then be plated together. These are the lamb, the rice, the yoghurt broth and the naan.
2. First of all, soak the lamb pieces overnight in a pot of water at room temperature.
3. Drain the lamb and wash it thoroughly.
4. Cover with water and boil the lamb on the hob on high heat, together with the cardamom, cinnamon and clove.
5. You can carry out this step in a pressure cooker which will take about half an hour. It will take 1 and a half -2 hours of boiling the lamb on the hob to get a very tender meat, which actually flakes apart between your fingertips. Mmmmm 😋.
6. Now measure out 4 cups of rice, wash and soak it for 10 minutes.
7. Put it into another pot, add the turmeric and a tablespoon of salt and set to boil.
8. Now two components are sorted. Onto the third component, which is the naan.
9. Now you can make roti or naan here but since I got into the swing of making naan this Ramadan, I thought I’d go all out and make some fresh naan to line my mansaf dish. Of course, this is optional. Use this recipe to make your naan.https://the7ofus.blog/2020/01/24/a-recipe-naan
10. Now for the fourth component. You now wait until your lamb is done to finish off your yoghurt sauce.
11. When the lamb is tender, pour your yoghurt, cream and one tablespoon of plain flour into a blender and blitz.
12. Pour this liquidy, creamy sauce into a pot and stir 1 tablespoon of salt in. Then strain 6-8 cups of broth into it. Add the large chucks of lamb. Let this boil for half an hour. This needs to be a smooth runny consistency to add to the dish almost as a flavour enhancer, so you can add more or less broth as you need to in this step.
13. Right, now you need to quickly fry your almond flakes just for a few minutes in hot olive oil until they are golden brown. Fry your raisins now too.
14. You are now ready to assemble your dish!
15. Watch the video below to see how this is done.
16. The final step is to add the chopped parsley.
17. Make a large salad 🥗, pour the rest of the yoghurt broth into a bowl and take both to the table. Call your family round and enjoy! One day inshaAllah we’ll be able to enjoy this dish with friends too…

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

And here is the video which shows you how quickly I plated it 😉…

Just add the chopped up parsley, and you’re done 😁.

So, there we have it. An Eid recipe for you. Hope you found it useful! Don’t forget to let me know if you make it- love seeing your pics.

Take care, may Allah bless you and your family always…Hope you had a wonderful Eid.

Much love,

Sidra

PS

Just a reminder that I’m very grateful for your readership. Maybe you’d like to say thank you by buying me a coffee? Go on, I’d love a cup ☕️👌🏽!

It really will motivate me to post more often. 😁🤲🏼…So if you like my content and would like to read more… Click here now! Thank you very much and Jazakamullah khairun for your support!

A coffee near me really does keep me going…

Peace and love

Sidra Ansari

♥️