Native Foods: Mensaf Leben

So far in this journey to cook my way through The Language of Baklava, this recipe has proved the most challenging. Not that the dish is difficult to prepare, but it requires a lot of time and someone to help you.



Cooking through the recipes in order just doesn't work with my schedule, so I've been jumping around a little bit. Instead of forcing myself to go through the exact order every week, I've been saving certain recipes for special days. After all, the food is special to Abu-Jaber, so I have to make it special for me as well. This week is no exception. I chose to cook Mensaf Leben this week because it is a recipe that serves a lot of people, so I waited until Uncle Donnie was in town.

So on Sunday we prepared for an evening of deliciousness. Working up the appetite took all day. After heading to the beach for a nice walk with the dog, we went home and began working on getting Chateau Brian's wine grapes chicken-proofed. Lots of weeding, nailing and chicken-tears later, we erected a barrier against the chicken terror, and were plenty hungry for this next cooking challenge. 

Taunting all of the Wyoming relatives with some California sunshine

Mensaf Leben

This recipe appears in the short story "Native Foods," in which the author moves back to Jordan with her family. There she visits her Bedouin relatives, who serve her family Mensaf Leben. An Americanized version of the dish appears in the book (allowing substitutions for what is stocked in American stores). This recipe is basically lamb marinated in buttermilk, served on top of pita bread and rice and sprinkled with pine nuts.

Uncle Donnie visited this weekend, so he ended up being the sous chef. Good thing too, since I'm still learning how to cook lamb right.

The finished product is a family-style dish eaten with pita bread, though being the pansy Americans that we are we had to consume this dish with cutlery (though not for lack of trying to eat with the pita bread!). 

 

This ended up being quite the production, and yet it was great being in the kitchen with everyone! I learned how to cook eggs and buttermilk (don't let it curdle!), and another recipe to use lamb for. Quite tasty!

Although this recipe said that this serves 6 people, 4 of us ended up eating almost all of it. It was a nice hardy dish to end our long day of working outside!