Chicken Mandi is a traditional dish that originated from Yemen consisting mainly of Chicken and Rice with a blend of spices. Traditionally, this dish is made in a pit underground. Alternatively, I'll be showing you a recipe made without oven or the underground pit set-up. Serve it hot along with curd chutney and it tastes heavenly. This recipe has two main elements, one is the yellow mandi rice and the other is the fried chicken. A special mandi masala is made and both the rice and chicken are flavoured with this masala. This recipe may take a lot of time and patience to make, but the results are amazing. This recipe is sure to yield you restaurant-style Chicken Mandi. Keep reading till the end for step-by-step picture instructions. Make sure to try it out and let me know in the comments how it turned out.
INGREDIENTS:
For the Mandi masala:
- Coriander seeds- 3 tbsp
- Zeera- 2 tbsp
- Star anise- 2 nos
- Cloves- 1 tsp
- Cinnamon sticks- 7-8 nos
- Saunf- 2 tbsp
- Black pepper corns- 1 tsp
- Cardamom- 1/2 tsp
For the Mandi Rice:
- Oil- 1/2 cup
- Rice- 500 gms (I've used Zeeraga samba rice, you can even use basmati rice)
- Green chillies- 5-6 nos (slit)
- Onion- 2 nos (medium sized, sliced)
- Ginger garlic paste- 2 tbsp
- Turmeric powder- 1 tsp
- Salt- to taste
- Red chilli powder- 1 tsp
- Water- to cook the rice
- Coriander leaves- 2 tbsp (finely chopped)
For the Chicken:
- Chicken thighs- 500 gms (You can even use small pieces or even chicken breasts instead)
- Oil- for frying the chicken
- Salt- to taste
- Red chilli powder- 2 tsp
- Ginger garlic paste- 2 tbsp
- Chicken masala- 2 tbsp
- Lemon juice- 2 tbsp
- Red food colour- 2-3 drops
PROCEDURE:
- Take all the spices in a grinder jar and grind them to a fine powder. I prefer making a fresh batch of mandi masala each time, So you can even make a larger batch and have it ready. Also, if you prefer storing a large batch of mandi masala, roast the spices on low flame and then cool it down completely before grinding it to a fine powder.
- Grind it to a fine powder and make sure that it has no chunks in it. Take out 3 tbsp of the mandi masala aside, we'll be using the 3 tbsp masala for mandi rice and the rest of the masala for marinating the chicken.
- Now let's marinate the chicken. Talking about the chicken, I've used whole thigh pieces from chicken. It is completely your preference, you can even use chicken breasts or even smaller pieces instead.
- Take the chicken and wash it well, drain it in a colander and cut slits on the thighs as it'll help absorb the masalas.
- Take a bowl, add all the masalas and spices along with mandi masala. Mix well.
- Apply it evenly on the chicken pieces, make sure to apply even on the slits as well.
- Place it in a plate and let it marinate for at-least 2-3 hrs and it's best if it's marinated overnight.
- While the chicken is marinating, let's make the Mandi rice.
- Heat oil in a thick-bottomed vessel.
- Add green chillies to it and fry for a min, this step imparts a good flavour to the rice.
- Now add the sliced onions and some salt to it and let it cook. Adding salt at this stage makes the onions cook faster.
- Now add ginger garlic paste to it and fry well for a min.
- Now add turmeric powder, red chilli powder and mandi masala (the 3 tbsp we took earlier) to it and saute well.
- Now add water to it, this depends on the quality of your rice. Aged rice needs more time and water to cook and new rice cooks quickly and with less water. So, adjust accordingly.
- Now let the water come to a rolling boil, check for seasoning and add more salt if required.
- Add washed, soaked and drained rice to it, mix gently and let it cook.
- Once all the water has been absorbed by the rice, lower the flame. The rice might have been cooked upto 80% till now.
- Let the rice 'dum' in low flame.
- Take an iron tawa and heat up some oil in it.
- Once the oil is hot, add the chicken piece to it, don't overcrowd the pan, cook one at a time
- Cook on high flame on both sides until crispy, then lower the flame and let it cook for 15 mins on both sides. This step is time consuming as the chicken pieces are large and it takes a long time to cook.
- After 15 mins, check if the chicken is cooked evenly. Remove from the tawa and set it aside. Fry the rest of the chicken similarly.
- Place the fried chicken on the rice which is on dum, sprinkle coriander leaves on it and let it dum for 5 more mins.
- Switch off the flame and let it rest for 10 mins.
- Restaurant-style Yemeni Chicken mandi is ready. Serve hot along with curd raita.
