By Ashwini Kolar
● Last Updated : 18 Sep 2023
Food Hospitality
Middle East
Jordan is known for its delicious food all over the world. For Jordanians, food is life, and they take it very seriously. And we say, why not? When the food is so delicious, one cannot stop thinking about it. Feeling stuffed after a trip to Jordan means you have done it right.
Jordan offers a mind-boggling variety of dishes that may leave you confused. Therefore, we have made a list of dishes that you should try in Jordan.
Mansaf is the national dish of Jordan. It is a rich dish consisting of rice, meat, and jameed. Jameed is a unique ingredient that makes Mansaf stand out. It is dehydrated goat’s milk yogurt which is rehydrated into a gravy and poured on top of rice and meat. Jordanians use sheep or camel meat for cooking Mansaf; however, modern variations use chicken as well. It is sometimes served with traditional flat-bread too.
Wark Enab is every local’s favorite dish. A unique ingredient of this dish is the Grape leaves. Rice, meat, and vegetables along with a special dressing, are wrapped in the grape leaves. It is then cooked in a large pot. Though the procedure seems simple, the dish requires time and extensive efforts. The delicacy is served cold and tastes sour due to the grape leaves.
Also, spelled as Kibbeh, this dish is eaten on its own or served as a part of the mezze platter. It is a fulfilling food made up of meat, bulgar wheat, spices, and onions. Lemon shaped nuggets thus prepared are deep-fried or baked. Kobbeh cooked in yogurt is a favorite main dish as well.
Maqluba translates to ‘upside down.’ It includes meat, spices, vegetables, and rice cooked in a pot in that order. Once cooked, the container is turned upside down on a communal plate so that rice is at the bottom and spices above it. The dish is then garnished with parsley and pine nuts. It is a popular dish served throughout the Levant period.
Zarb is a Bedouin answer to barbeque. A mix of meat, rice, onion, and carrots are placed in a hole dug in the ground, which is filled with hot coals. The hole covered with a few layers of cloth is sealed with sand. Complete your Wadi Rum experience with perfectly barbecued meat in a Zarb.
Crisp balls made up of spiced, ground chickpeas; the ever-so-famous falafel is everyone’s favorite. Eaten as it is or stuffed in pita bread to churn up a quick sandwich, falafel is loved in every version. It is consumed at any time of the day from breakfast to dinner or snacks.
A sugar craving of the foodie in you will meet its end in this heavenly dessert from Jordan. Kunafa is made with thin noodle-like pastry or fine semolina dough, soaked in sugar syrup and layered with cheese. Finally, it is garnished with nuts or cream.
Ashwini Kolar
An effervescent and talkative soul, Ashwini dreams about visiting every nook and corner of the world. When she is not writing, she is all things food and is busy either hunting for a restaurant or a recipe to cook!
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