Mandi

Hadhrami rice and lamb cooked in a sealed pit oven, the meat hung above the grain so its fat drips down through the cooking

Origin: Hadhramaut & Yemen

From the journey of Rice.

Mandi comes from the Arabic nada, meaning dew or moisture, and the name describes the result: meat cooked so gently in trapped steam that it stays wet through. It belongs to the Hadhramaut in eastern Yemen and has spread across the whole peninsula, so that mandi restaurants are now as common in Riyadh and Dubai as in Mukalla. The method is a pit. A hole is lined and a fire burnt down in it to heat the walls; a pot of rice sits at the bottom and the meat is suspended above it on a rack, and the pit is sealed so that no smoke and no steam escape. The lamb cooks in dry radiant heat whilst its fat and juices fall continuously into the rice below, which is the entire architecture of the dish. Nothing is stirred and nothing is basted. This is what separates it from kabsa, the dish it is most often confused with. In kabsa the meat is cooked in the pot with the rice and the spicing is heavier. Mandi keeps them apart, uses a much lighter hand with spice, and takes its character from the smoke and the dripping fat rather than from the blend. Many cooks finish it with a small piece of charcoal: a coal is heated until glowing, set in a dish on top of the rice, a spoonful of ghee poured over it, and the lid closed for a few minutes so the smoke is captured. It is a shortcut to the pit and a genuinely effective one. The Hadhramaut has sent traders and migrants across the Indian Ocean for centuries, to India, Indonesia, and East Africa, and mandi travelled with them; versions of it are eaten in Malaysia and Indonesia today under the same name.

Ingredients

1.5 kg lamb shoulder or leg on the bone, in large pieces
600 g basmati rice, rinsed and soaked 30 minutes
1.2 litres water

Rub

2 tbsp hawaij or mandi spice mix
1 tsp ground turmeric
2 tbsp oil
2 tsp salt

Rice

1 onion, quartered
4 green cardamom pods
1 cinnamon stick
4 cloves
1 dried lime (loomi), pierced
50 g ghee

To smoke

1 piece of natural lump charcoal
1 tbsp ghee, for the smoking

To finish

50 g toasted almonds and raisins

Method

Mix the hawaij, turmeric, oil, and salt into a rub and work it into the lamb, into every cut and crevice. Leave for at least thirty minutes.
Bring the water to a simmer in a wide deep pot with the quartered onion, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, and pierced lime.
Set a rack over the pot, high enough that the meat sits clear of the liquid, and lay the lamb on it.
Cover tightly, sealing the gap with foil if the lid is loose, and steam for ninety minutes. The fat and juices will drip down into the stock below, which is what the rice will be cooked in.
Lift the lamb and the rack off. Skim a little fat from the stock if it seems excessive, but leave most of it, since it carries the flavour.
Measure the stock: you want about 1.5 times the volume of the rice. Add the drained rice and the ghee, bring to the boil, then cover and cook on the lowest heat for twelve minutes.
Meanwhile roast the lamb at 220°C for twenty minutes, or grill it, until the outside is browned and crisp at the edges.
For the smoke, heat the charcoal on a flame until glowing red. Set it in a small heatproof dish, make a hollow in the rice, and put the dish in.
Pour the tablespoon of ghee over the coal, close the lid immediately, and leave for five minutes. Then remove the dish and the coal.
Fork the rice through, heap it on a platter, lay the lamb on top, and scatter the almonds and raisins. Serve with a tomato and chilli sahawiq.

Notes

Cooking the meat above the rice liquid rather than in it is the whole idea; a lamb simmered in the pot gives a different and much heavier dish. Season the stock before the rice goes in, since it cannot be corrected afterwards. The charcoal smoking takes five minutes and is what most closely reproduces the pit, so it is worth the trouble; use natural lump charcoal, never a self-lighting briquette. Spice with a light hand, since mandi is not kabsa.

The Gastrographer

Name: Mandi
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 2 h
Total time: 2 h 45 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Hadhramaut & Yemen
Ingredients: 1.5 kg lamb shoulder or leg on the bone, in large pieces; 600 g basmati rice, rinsed and soaked 30 minutes; 2 tbsp hawaij or mandi spice mix; 1 tsp ground turmeric; 2 tbsp oil; 2 tsp salt; 1 onion, quartered; 4 green cardamom pods; 1 cinnamon stick; 4 cloves; 1 dried lime (loomi), pierced; 50 g ghee; 1 piece of natural lump charcoal; 1 tbsp ghee, for the smoking; 50 g toasted almonds and raisins; 1.2 litres water

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control