Dec 14

Chicken Mandi has always been on my bucket list. The soft succulent meat pieces soaked in beautiful aromatics, the fragrant long grained rice having a dash of freshness form the lemon slices - if there is something I like over biryani at times is this meat & rice dish.

Mandi (مندي‎) is a traditional Yemeni dish that originated from Hadhramaut, Yemen.  It consists of meat and rice with a special blend of spices, cooked in a pit underground for long hours. It is a very popular dish in the Arabian Peninsula and also a staple dish in many areas like Egypt, Turkey, the Levant etc. Mandi has become equally popular in our country because it is less of a hassle than a typical biryani and yet has richness of flavors and taste.

Mandi is considered the main dish served during special events, such as Eid, weddings, and feasts in Yemen and southern Saudi Arabia. In Arabic themed restaurants, apart from the regular seating, there are some sections where you can sit on the floor cushions and rice & meat dishes are served in a large plate when two three people sit together and eat from the same plate. 

The word "mandi" comes from the Arabic word "nada", meaning "dew", and refers to the moist 'dewy' texture of the meat, which is result of the slow cooking it in a clay oven or tandoor, typically a hole dug in the ground. Dry wood pieces are burned in the tandoor and once it reaches a certain temperature the rice pot is then suspended inside the tandoor without touching the charcoal and the meat marinated with the special mandi masala is then placed on a wire rack on top of the rice. The tandoor is then closed and the meet and the rice is cooked on slow heat of the oven. The fat and the spices that drips from the steaming chicken infuses the rich flavors into the rice pot below, while the tandoor adds the smokiness to the overall meat and rice.

Even though it all sounds too elaborate and hard to replicate at home, but that is not the case. humans always find a workaround to do difficult things easy way. So today I will be talking about how we can make this amazing flavorful dish right in the comfort of your home without even having a tandoor!

And after all what better than to flag off the winter season with a heart warming plate of chicken mandi. I had a lot of fun cooking and eating it and hope you will enjoy too!

Marination time - 2 hours to overnight

Mandi Marination Paste:

• Mandi spice - 2 tbsp 
• Lime juice - 1 tsp 
• Ginger powder - ½ tsp 
• Red chili- ½ tsp 
• Refined Oil - 2 tbsp 

Mandi Chicken and Rice:

• Chicken with full leg pieces - 2 
• Mandi spice mix - 1 tbsp
• Long Grain Basmati Rice - 2 cups
• Cashews - 3 tbsp 
• Almonds - 3 tbsp 
• Raisins - 2 tbsp 
• Onion - 3 tbsp 
• Green Chilli - 2-3 (slitted)
• Dry whole lemon - 1 ( 2 weeks old lemon*)
• Garlic Ginger paste - 1 tsp 
• Salt - 1 tsp 
• Saffron Strands - 4 to 5
• Water - 4 ½ cups 
• Cooking oil
• 2 tbsp butter
• Ghee - 1 tsp

Flavouring Agent:

• Dry whole lemon - 1 ( 2 weeks old lemon*)
• Charcoal - 1 piece
• Ghee - 1 tsp

Procedure

1. Start by preparing the spice mix. Dry roast coriander, black peppercorn, cumin, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon sticks for about 1 to 2 mins flipping occasionally. Add all the roasted spices in a mixer grinder and add salt, ginger powder, red chilli, turmeric, and nutmeg ( coarsely ground) to it. Pulse it till you get a fine powdered spice mix. It will smell divine at this point!

2. Now to prepare the mandi marination mix, take about 2 tsp of the spice mix prepared above and to it add half a lemon juice and cooking oil. Mix well to prepare a thick paste.

3. Apply the paste on the cleaned chicken pieces and let it sit for about 1 to 2 hours. The longer the better.

4. Now take a steamer and let water boil. When the water comes to a rolling boil with lots of visible steam, place the chicken legs carefully on the steamer ( the steam will be very hot! so take precautions) and put the lid back on. Steam the chicken on 30 mins on medium heat. At half the time, just flip the chicken so that both sides are uniformly cooked.

Tip: Any steamer with ample holes would do. If you are using a pot with a lid which has hole, make sure you close the hole with a tissue paper to prevent the steam from escaping the pot.

Note: Use drinking water in the steamer because the masala that gets mixed with the water on steaming will be used later in the recipe.

5. While the chicken is steaming soak the rice in water. Also soak a few saffron strands in warm water and let it sit.

6. Once the chicken is steamed take it out in a plate. Reserve the stock. Now head up a griddle/pan and add some ghee + cooking oil to it. Once it is heated, place the chicken in a single layer and fry it for 2-3 minutes on each side, ensuring a light browning.

  

7. Take a deep bottomed pot and heat it. Add 2 tbsp of ghee and let it be fragrant. To this add cashew, almonds, raisins/black raisin and stir them till they start getting a little brown and fragrant. Remove from the pot and keep it aside.

8. Now in the same pot add some cooking oil, and once hot add the sliced onions. Fry until brown stirring occasionally. 

9. Stir in about 2 tsp of the mandi spice masala (dry), salt, dried lemon slices, slitted green chilli and ginger garlic paste. Fold everything in. Fry for a couple of minutes.

Tip: Dry Lemon slices are typically added to mandi rice as a flavoring agent. So I would recommend not to skip it. Have any fresh lemon sit outside at room temperature for about a week or two until the outer cover starts dying out and use that lemon for this recipe.

10. Add the reserve stock which was collected from steaming chicken the earlier. Bring it to a boil.

11. Now add the soaked rice to the water.

12. Add saffron water

13. Once the rice is 3/4th cooked, add the raisins and  steamed chicken leg in a single layer. 

14. Sprinkle some mandi spice mix over.

15. Cover the lid and block holes on the lid if any. Cook for about 15 minutes on lowest flame just like biryani. 

Note: If you do not have a thick bottomed pot then on the heat place a griddle or frying pan and put the pot on top of it. It will help distribute the heat evenly this way.

16. Now put a small steel bowl in the center of the pot on rice. Over a flame heat a charcoal by holding it with tong. When the charcoal is hot place it in the bowl inside the pot and add 1 tbsp of ghee on the charcoal. Cover the lid immediately. Let the steam collect inside the pot and flavor the rice.

17. When you are ready to serve, add the fried nuts as garnish on the rice and serve it with raita or salad.

Pro Tip: Do not cook the nuts with the rice on dum, as it renders the nuts soft. Adding the fried nuts as garnish instead preserves the flavors and the crunch of the nuts.

Please note: Ideally chicken mandi traditionally is cooked by placing the rice in the pot and putting a grill on top of the pot and the chicken is placed on that. So both chicken and rice is cooked together. But since I didn't have that big a pot hence I have broken it down to two step - steaming the chicken first, cooking the rice 3/4 and then cooking both on dum for the final outcome. Taste wise it is absolutely the same.

Brands I used for this recipe

1. Long gran basmati - Daawat

2. Black raisin - Vedaka

3. Almonds- Vedaka