Mandi recipe

Rice cooked in the spiced stock of the meat hung above it in a clay pit oven, finished with charcoal smoke sealed under the lid.

2 hours and 50 minutesmedium10 ingredients

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp hawaij spice blend
• 500 g basmati rice
• 1500 g chicken
• 1 onion
• 1 tomato
• 3 clove garlic
• 50 g ghee
• 2 dried black lime
• 1 lump charcoal
• 2 tsp salt

How to make Mandi

1. Make the hawaij: toast and grind 2 tsp coriander seed, 2 tsp cumin, 1 tsp cardamom, 1 tsp black peppercorns, 1 tsp cinnamon and 6 cloves. That blend, not curry powder, is what makes it Yemeni.
2. Rub a 1.5 kg chicken with half the hawaij and 2 tsp salt. Rest 1 hour.
3. Poach the chicken in 1.5 litres of water with 1 quartered onion, 1 tomato, 3 garlic cloves and 2 pierced dried black limes for 40 minutes. Do not brown it first, mandi meat is never seared.
4. Lift the chicken out, brush with 50 g melted ghee and roast at 220°C for 20 minutes to colour the skin. A real tandoor pit is not reproducible at home, this is the closest stand-in.
5. Strain the stock and measure 900 ml. Cook 500 g soaked basmati in it with the rest of the hawaij, covered, 15 minutes, then rest 10 minutes off the heat.
6. Sit the chicken on the rice. Put a small metal bowl in the centre with one red-hot lump of charcoal, pour 1 tsp ghee over it and clamp the lid shut for 8 minutes.
7. Lift the lid, remove the bowl and fluff the rice. That smoke is the dish, skip it and you have kabsa.
8. Serve on one large communal platter with sahawiq chilli sauce and a tomato salad.

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