Vegetarian version of Jordanian rice known as Mansaf. Layer of rice is topped with spiced vegetables, yogurt sauce and nuts. A hearty and delicious meal.
For Day 2 of this week’s blogging marathon, I have a vegetarian version of Jordanian National dish, called Mansaf. Traditionally mansaf is made with lamb but this vegetarian version uses lots of hearty spiced vegetables.
This recipe is from ‘The New Middle Eastern Vegetarian‘ cookbook by Sally Butcher. I bookmarked almost all of the pilaf recipes from that cookbook. Some of the Middle Eastern Pilafs are quite elaborate with lots of flavors and textures.
Jordanian Style Rice Pilaf:
In Jordan, Mansaf is eaten at every important occasion. It is made with meat, either camel or lamb. The name of the dish comes from the phrases ‘large tray’ or ‘large dish’.
This vegetarian version of Mansaf has a layer of rice, topped with spicy vegetables and a creamy garlicky yogurt sauce. According to the author, the secret of Mansaf is the inclusion of this yogurt sauce called jameed (or laban moutboukh).
Rice Layer:
Rice is cooked with butter and is flavored with ground cinnamon, salt and pepper. Ground turmeric adds a nice tinge of color to the dish.
Vegetable Layer:
To make this dish hearty, it is loaded with tons of delicious vegetables that are again flavored with garlic and Middle eastern spices. Here are the veggies in this layer:
- Eggplant
- Mushrooms
- Peppers
- Tomatoes
To add some protein to the dish, soy granules or tofu or beans like chickpeas can be added.
Garlic Yogurt Sauce | Laban Moutbouk | Jameed
Jameed is made with strained yogurt and is a sharp creamy sauce. It is served hot, so the yogurt needs to be stabilized. Traditionally egg white and cornstarch are added to the yogurt and cooked to avoid curdling.
But my own version uses some chickpea flour (besan) and cornstarch to ensure yogurt doesn’t cuddle while cooking. Using whole milk yogurt is key, otherwise the sauce will split when heated.
Final Garnish for Jordanian Rice:
Garnishing the final dish with nuts and fresh herbs or a green salad makes all the flavors pop in the mouth.
Mansaf is served over flatbread like pita or khobez. The idea is to break off pieces of bread with your hands, pick some rice and sauce and eat it all in one big bite.
Jordanian Rice Pilaf Recipe | Vegetarian Mansaf
Ingredients
For the Rice Layer:
- 1½ cup Basmati Rice
- 3 tbsp Ghee/ Clarified Butter
- ½ tsp Turmeric
- ½ tsp Ground Cinnamon
- 2¼ cups Water
- To taste Salt
For the Vegetable Layer:
- 1 Medium Eggplant, chopped
- 2 tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 Medium Onion, chopped
- 1 Medium Red/ Orange Pepper, chopped
- 1 cup Mushrooms, sliced
- 3 Garlic cloves, finely minced
- ½ tsp Ground Cumin
- ½ tsp Ground Allspice
- ¾ cup Tomato Puree
- To taste Salt & Pepper
For Garlic-yogurt Sauce (my version of laban moutboukh):
- ½ cup Full fat Yogurt
- 1 tsp Chickpea flour
- ½ tsp Corn Starch
- To taste Salt
- 1 tsp Olive oil
- 2 Garlic cloves, thinly sliced
For Garnish:
- ½ cup Sunflower seeds or Sesame Seeds
- ½ cup Parsley, chopped
Instructions
For the Rice Layer:
- Rinse the rice and drain well.
- Melt butter in a heavy bottom pan, add the drained rice and cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently to avoid sticking to the pan.
- Next add turmeric, cinnamon, water and salt. Bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat, cover and cook for 15~20 minutes or until the water is absorbed and rice is tender.
- Take the pan off the heat and let it rest for 10 minutes.
For the Vegetable Layer:
- Salt eggplant and leave it in a colander for at least 15 minutes. Squeeze out the excess water, pat dry on a clean kitchen towel and keep ready.
- Heat oil in a saute pan, add the onions, peppers, mushrooms, garlic and the eggplant. Cook the veggies for 4~5 minutes or until the onions are soft and the other veggies start to get tender. Lower the heat, cover the pan and cook till the veggies are tender.
- Next add the tomato puree, spices, salt and pepper. Cook for 3~4 minutes.
- Add ½~1cup water and bring the mixture to a simmer. Cook for 2~3 minutes. Turn off the heat and keep ready.
For the Garlic~Yogurt Sauce:
- Whisk chickpea flour, cornstarch and salt into yogurt. Make sure there are no lumps.
- Heat 1tsp oil in a small saucepan, add the garlic and cook till it turns golden, make sure not to burn. Remove garlic into a small bowl.
- Lower the heat and add the yogurt mixture. Keep whisking the yogurt to avoid curdling. Cook till the yogurt starts to bubble around the edges. Turn off the heat and add the reserved fried garlic.
For the Garnish:
- Dry roast the nuts till golden. Set aside.
To Serve:
- Pile the rice on the serving plate. Spoon the vegetables into the middle of the rice and cover with sauce. Sprinkle with the toasted nuts and serve with the chopped herbs. Serve the extra sauce on the side
Notes
- To add some protein to the dish, soy granules or tofu or beans like chickpeas can be added.
- The vegetable layer can be made up to 2 days in advance. Layer it with rice and top with the yogurt sauce just before serving.
- Heat ½ tsp oil in a heavy bottomed saucepan and saute 6 cloves of finely chopped garlic. Remove the garlic into a small bowl.
- Turn the heat to low, add 1½ cups of yogurt to the pan.
- Stir in 1 egg white, ½ tsp cornstarch and a pinch of salt, stirring continuously in the SAME direction. Don’t stir the yogurt randomly, it will cause it to curdle.
- Bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for a few minutes.
- Take the pan off the heat and stir the garlic back in. Jordanian garlic-yogurt sauce is ready to serve.
Linking this to Valli’s BM# 109 and don’t forget to check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked up today.
vaishali sabnani
Pavani this is amazing..love it ..beautiful clicks, beautiful recipe..just wondering about the substitutes..dont eat mushrooms and am allergic to egg plants..but surely i will work this one out…super like
Nivedhanams Sowmya
drooling here!!! loving the delicious pilaf!!!
Sarita
Rice pilav looks very nice.. Nicely done.
Varadas Kitchen
Such a delightful recipe. Use if yogurt sauce between layers of rice sounds very different. Lovely pictures.
Sowmya Sundararajan
Loved this exotic rice
Sandhya Ramakrishnan
What a wonderful click! The recipe is amazing and your presentation makes it even better.
Srivalli
Pavani, you have surely come up with a winner recipe, the pictures are so so pretty…gosh I have scrolled up and down so many times..stunning and so inviting!
PJ
I think the taste and texture justifies the amount of work that goes into making it! Awesome clicks Pavani…
Unknown
Its a new and interesting recipe for me. Love the pictures and your presentation. Jayanthi(www.sizzlingveggies.com)
Priya Suresh
Very interesting pilaf,and your pictures are torturing me.. Lovely choice for the briyani theme Pavani.
sushma
Looks delicious Pavani.
Srividhya Gopalakrishnan
Love these layered pilaf
sneha datar
Beautiful pics, and delicious pilaf.
Harini-Jaya Rupanagudi
Pictures speak a 100 words. What else can I say?
Jayanthi Sindhiya
Beautifully done Pilaf…Nice clicks
Archana Potdar
I second Harini above. Amazing amazing I love it.
MissA
Am I being overly concerned about the 1/2 cup of Allspice? Allspice is strong and I fear it being really over powering.
Pavani N
Hi MissA, I would be concerned about 1/2 cup of Allspice too 🙂 Thank you for pointing that out — I corrected it to 1/2tsp allspice.
Eve
I am Jordanian, and this recipe on a vegetarian version of Jordanian Mansaf is quite offensive because the author -Sally Butcher – wrote a recipe out of a blind assumption on irrelevant ingredients that she made up and claimed as Mansaf. If she had any appreciation towards how mansaf is really made, she would have put a little effort to ask a Jordanian or even look it up. Mansaf is cooked either with fresh liquid yogurt and lamb that is stirred while slow cooking it for up to 5 hours. Alternatively it can be cooked with Jameed (dried yogurt ball that is soaked over night and blended with fresh liquid yogurt). As for the rice, it is only cooked with turmeric, and salt NO SPICES OR VEGGIES, only garnished with toasted almonds and pine nuts and just a pinch of minced parley. Served over a very thin bread called “Shrak” NEVER EVER PITA! And btw, “Khoubez” is the Arabic word for bread, it not even a type of bread. Making what you described as mansaf is the same as making a peanut butter sandwich a claiming it’s an Italian Pizza! Here’s a tip, if you wanted a vegetarian mansaf, just remove the lamb, even though the whole essence of it is lamb! PLEASE don’t use the name Mansaf in association with this recipe.
Pavani
Hi Eve, I’m sorry to hear that the recipe is not an authentic Jordanian version of Mansaf. I followed what was in the book because I couldn’t find a vegetarian version online. I will edit the name of the dish too. Thank you for your detailed explanation on how to make traditional Mansaf.
Eve
Thank you 🙂
Vaishali Sabnani
The recipe sounds like a one delicious one pot meal , would love to give it a try . The veggies and the yogurt all sound very interesting .
Srivalli Jetti
The new pictures look awesome Pavani. Btw just read that comment, wow some are really so sensitive. anyway kudos that you took it so nicely and I see you mended the recipe as well!
Natalie
I haven’t made pilaf in ages. Thanks for reminding me of this incredible dish. This recipe sounds amazing. So delicious… I love the spices you used. My family will love this I’m sure. Can’t wait to make.
Danielle
The rice pilaf recipe worth trying! Fantastic execution and the result is absolutely amazing. Can’t wait to make a big bowl of it!
Melissa
We love this dish for all the hearty veggies in it- but the yogurt sauce is the real winner! YUM
Sushma Pinjala
Looks so delicious Pavani
Rafeeda - The Big Sweet Tooth
When I read mansaf, I thought, “Isn’t it non-veg?” But I am totally in love with how you have converted this recipe into vegetarian with all those hearty vegetables… In love with your clicks, makes me drool!