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Home » Recipes » Pilaf and Biryani

Jordanian Mansaf | Lamb Meat Cooked in Jameed Sauce

Modified: Jun 8, 2023 · Published: Dec 31, 2017 by Famidha Ashraf · This post may contain affiliate links · 1 Comment

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Mansaf, the national dish of Jordan made with lamb meat cooked in a tangy jameed (goat milk dried yoghurt) sauce and served with yellow rice on a shrak (a thin bread)!

yellow rice topped with lamb meat pieces and almonds

An easy Bedouin meat and rice dish that is the pride of Jordan— Mansaf, served traditionally on a large shrak bread. You can serve this along falafel as starter, Mutabal dip and kunafa for dessert.

Jump to:
  • Ingredients
  • What is Jameed?
  • How to make it?
  • Substitutions
  • Variations
  • FAQ
  • Related
  • Pairing
  • 📖 Recipe Card
  • Food safety
  • 💬 Comments

My unsolicited two cents: When you are attempting to recreate a recipe from a different culture (be it minority or dominant), the least you can do is appreciate the original version before making enormous changes to the recipe and then calling it the best version! Take the opportunity to learn about the people behind the food, the ingredients and the techniques they use, etc. Be inquisitive and then share with the world giving due credit to the cuisine! 

Ok, now let's talk about the Jordanian Mansaf recipe with jameed sauce!

Ingredients

I mentioned this is an easy recipe but you may find it really hard to source Laban Jameed - the goat milk dried yoghurt. Nowadays you can get it in tetra pack as "liquid jameed". Rest of the mansaf ingredients you may already have!

  • bone-in meat (mutton or lamb)
  • basmati rice 
  • liquid jameed (Laban Jameed)
  • ghee
  • red or yellow onion 
  • green cardamom
  • bay leaf
  • turmeric powder
  • saffron infused water (optional)
  • yoghurt (optional)
  • almonds or pine nuts 
  • shrak bread (optional but recommended)

See the recipe card for quantities.

What is Jameed?

Jameed refers to the dried hard yoghurt made from goat's milk. It requires a long soaking time, so usually the preparation for mansaf starts a day ahead. Nowadays you can make mansaf with readily available liquid jameed.

The liquid jameed tetra pack I picked was 1 kilo and had two small packs inside of 500 grams each. It is easily available across the Gulf countries in most supermarkets. So I would really urge you to look out for Jameed and try making Mansaf.

How to make it?

How to make mansaf with jameed? Making a batch of Jordanian mansaf recipe is easier than the elaborate Indian biryani recipes. You don't have a lot of chopping work to do and most of the cooking is hands-free!

I like to divide the process so it is easy to scale up or down.

  1. First off, you will need to prepare the mansaf meat stock - I like to use lamb meat.
  2. Using the stock, you will prepare the mansaf sauce aka jameed sauce.
  3. Next, cook the rice with turmeric or saffron-infused water.
  4. Fry the almonds or pine nuts or both.
  5. Assemble mansaf in serving platter.
pouring jameed sauce over yellow rice

Substitutions

  • bone-in meat: You can use lamb, mutton, goat meat. I have never tried with beef so can't recommend it.
  • basmati rice: You can use any regular long grain rice or sella rice.
  • liquid jameed (Laban Jameed): If you could source only the hard jameed balls, then you need to reconstitute it into liquid yogurt by soaking it in water until dissolved. 
  • shrak bread: a thin arabic bread that you can skip or replace with Indian rumali roti.

Variations

Recently I came across Mansaf made with Freekeh, a superfood grain. You skip the rice and make a batch of Freekeh and serve with meat and jameed sauce.

FAQ

What is mansaf made of?

The three most essential ingredients to make a  batch of Mansaf are Lamb, Jameed and of course some rice! The national dish of Jordan, Mansaf is all about lamb meat cooked in goat milk yoghurt called jameed and served with turmeric rice!

What does mansaf taste like?

Honestly, once the Jameed sauce boils, you will get the goat meat smell! It may not be pleasant for some (like me) the reason why I added black pepper to mellow down the smell. That said, we ate Mansaf like the Jordanians would want us to.

Is mansaf similar to biryani?

No, mansaf is not similar to biryani in any way. Other than the fact both are rice and meat dish, the ingredients and flavour profile is totally different and unique to each.

How to eat mansaf?

Mansaf is served in a large community platter for traditional gatherings like a wedding. The guests would stand or sit around the platter with their left hand behind their back and eat only with their right hand. You make balls of rice and meat and pop them into your mouth and eat! We were just two of us and it was indeed a great pleasure to eat off one plate!

eating mansaf from same plate

Related

Looking for more recipes using lamb or mutton meat? Try these:

  • A plate of Tamil style mutton biryani served with raita and pappad.
    Mummy's Tamilnadu Style Mutton Biryani
  • kacchi mutton biryani served with yoghurt, pappad and onions
    Kacchi Mutton Biryani
  • A olive green bowl filled with mutton kosha.
    Kosha Mangsho | A labour of love
  • dal gosht served with ghee rice
    Dal Gosht | Lentil and Meat Curry

Pairing

These are my favorite dishes to serve with Mansaf:

  • Lebanese baba ganoush recipe with tahini
    Baba Ganoush | Lebanese Eggplant Dip
  • cream kunafa
    Cream Kunafa
  • sambousek
    Sambousek
  • baked falafel recipe
    Baked Falafel with Labneh Tahini Dip

📖 Recipe Card

mansaf with jameed sauce

Jordanian Mansaf | Lamb Meat Cooked in Jameed Sauce

Mansaf, the national dish of Jordan is made with lamb meat cooked in liquid jameed and served with yellow rice and fried nuts on shrak.
5 from 1 vote
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Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour hour 20 minutes minutes
Total Time: 1 hour hour 40 minutes minutes
Servings: 4 people
Calories: 660kcal
Author: Famidha Ashraf
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Ingredients
 

For the Lamb Stock

  • 1 kg mutton or lamb, bone-in
  • 1 large onion, chunked
  • 3 to 5 green cardamom
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 teaspoon ghee
  • water , to cover the meat

For the Jameed Sauce

  • 1 cup liquid Jameed, (Laban Jameed)
  • 1 teaspoon Freshly ground black pepper
  • ½ cup yoghurt, whisked

For the Rice

  • 1 tablespoon ghee
  • 1 green cardamom
  • 2 cups basmati rice, rinsed and soaked for 20 to 30 minutes
  • ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
  • 4 cups hot water, to cook the rice
  • Salt to taste

For the Garnish

  • ⅓ cup almonds, slivered or whole, toasted lightly
  • shrak bread , optional (see notes)

Instructions

Make the Lamb Stock

  • Add all the stock ingredients to a large deep pot and bring it to a full boil.
    1 kg mutton or lamb
    1 large onion
    3 to 5 green cardamom
    1 bay leaf
    1 teaspoon ghee
    water
  • Skim and discard the foamy layer that forms at the top with a ladle. This is to remove the impurities.
  • Boil for at least 30 minutes or until the meat is just cooked.
  • Fish out the meat and keep them aside.
  • Strain the stock and discard the solids.

Make the Jameed Sauce

  • Add back the stock to a clean pot along with liquid jameed, whisked yoghurt and ground pepper. Stir constantly on low to medium flame to prevent curdling. Add salt if necessary.
    1 cup liquid Jameed
    1 teaspoon Freshly ground black pepper
    ½ cup yoghurt
  • Add the cooked meat and let it simmer on low flame until the sauce is thick enough to coat the meat as a glaze and meat is tender to fall off the bone.

Prepare the Yellow Rice

  • In a large thick-bottomed deep pot, heat the ghee on medium to high flame. Add the cardamom, drained rice and turmeric powder. Saute to fully coat the grains in the oil.
    1 tablespoon ghee
    1 green cardamom
    2 cups basmati rice
    ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
  • Add the boiled hot water and salt to taste. Bring to a full boil and then reduce heat to a simmer and cook until most of the water has been absorbed.
    4 cups hot water
    Salt to taste
  • When you see the rice has surfaced without much water, stir once, and cover the pot with foil or kitchen towel and then with a heavy lid. Cook covered for 5 to 6 minutes and then remove from heat and let stand 15 minutes.

Assemble Mansaf

  • Place the shrak or any thin flatbread on a large platter. You may tear up the bread into smaller pieces and spread to cover the platter.
    shrak bread
  • Fluff the rice and gently spoon on a mound on top of the bread.
  • Place the lamb pieces and pour most of the prepared jameed sauceall over the rice.
  • Sprinkle some toasted almonds or pine nuts.
    ⅓ cup almonds
  • Serve along with the remaining jameed sauce and salad on the side.

Notes

Shrak: A thin arabic bread that resembles Indian Rumali Roti in size and texture. You can use any similar bread to line the serving platter.  The best way to know how many bread to use is to fully cover the serving platter you will be using with the whole or torn bread pieces.

Nutrition Info

Calories: 660kcal | Carbohydrates: 68g | Protein: 39g | Fat: 25g
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: arabic, middle eastern
Tried this recipe?Please consider Leaving a Review!

Recipe adapted from Procrastinator Cook. You can also read the article by Migrationology for Mansaf experience. 

Food safety

  • Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat.
  • Wash hands after touching raw meat.
  • Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods.
  • Never leave cooking food unattended.
  • Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds.
  • Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove.

See more guidelines at USDA.gov.

More Biryani and Pilaf Recipes

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    Machboos Rubyan (Prawns and Rice)
  • erachi choru - kerala style beef rice recipe
    Beef Rice (Erachi Choru)
  • A serving plate of lebanese vermicelli rice.
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Abdul Rahman says

    September 08, 2023 at 9:56 am

    5 stars
    Going to give it a try.

    Reply
5 from 1 vote

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Mr.F and Famidha

Hey, I'm Famidha

An Indian chai lover in the UAE. As a passionate food blogger, I share a diverse collection of recipes spanning the Middle East and South Asia. With each dish, I aim to spark your culinary curiosity and encourage you to try new flavours and cooking methods.

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