Hadrami Lamb Mandi (spiced rice with slow-cooked lamb)

Gulf230 minServes 6

Mandi is associated with Hadramawt in Yemen, where cooking meat in the heat of the tannour (clay oven) became famous, with rice that soaks up the meat juices. It spread through travel and trade to the rest of the Arabian Peninsula, and there is no known exact date for its invention.

Ingredients for Hadrami Lamb Mandi

• 2.5 kgbone-in lamb
• 1 kgbasmati rice
• 2large onions
• 3tomatoes
• 6 clovesgarlic
• 2 tbspghee to season the meat and 2 for the rice
• 2 tspsalt to start, adjusted to taste
• 1 tspblack pepper
• 1 tspcumin
• 1 tspground coriander
• ½ tspturmeric
• ½ tspground cardamom
• 4cardamom pods, 5 cloves, 2 cinnamon sticks and 3 bay leaves
• 2loomi (dried limes), pierced
• ½ tspsaffron soaked in ¼ cup water
• about 2.5 litresof water for the broth; about 1.6–1.8 litres of it is used for the rice depending on the type

Method

1. Season the lamb with the ghee, salt and ground spices and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
2. Prepare a broth from the water, onions, garlic, tomatoes, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, bay leaves and loomi; let it boil for 10 minutes.
3. Put the broth in a deep oven-safe tray, set the lamb on a rack above it, and cover tightly. Cook at 170°C for about 2.5–3 hours until tender, checking the liquid level.
4. Wash the rice and soak it for 25–30 minutes, then drain.
5. Strain the lamb broth and measure about 1.6–1.8 litres, adjust the salt and add the ghee. Bring to a boil, then add the rice.
6. Once most of the liquid is absorbed, lower the heat and cover the pot for 15–18 minutes; add the saffron and let the rice rest for 10 minutes.
7. Brown the lamb in the oven at 220°C for 5–10 minutes, watching it closely, and serve it over the rice with sahawiq (fresh chilli-tomato relish).

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