Chicken Mandy Rice

Mandy rice is a famous dish in Yemen specially Hadramawt or Hadhramaut city, "Mandy" means cooked with the sauce and fat that comes down from meat to the rice underneath it in the special Mandy oven in the photo.

This dish contains basmati rice and any kind of meat like chicken or lamb ...etc, I'm going to give you today the recipe for delicious chicken Mandy rice and believe me if there is any dish in my recipes that you have to try it should be this one, it's really yummy and so good, my husband and I loved it once I made it for the first time and couldn't stop eating it till we became so full :D.

To make this dish with its special coal smell at home (without the special oven) some people cook the rice in a pan covered with foil and make small hales in it and top it with the meat and burning coal and cover them all again with foil, actually I don't like using foil specially if I'm adding tomatoes in the recipe as it makes some unhealthy reaction to the food, so I'm going to make this dish with the same taste and smell without using foil, I hope you try it I'm sure you're going to like it :) .

Recipe Serves: 2 people

Prep. Time: 10 min.

Cooking Time: 55 to 75 minutes

Ingredients:

Half a chicken

1 1/2 cup basmati rice, rinsed and strained

5 cups water

5 tbsp olive oil

2 hot green pepper

1 large onion, chopped

2 tomatoes, chopped

2 carrots, shredded

2 bay leaves

3 cardamom

5 cloves

1/2 tbsp turmeric

1/4 tbsp ginger

1/4 tsp cinnamon

Pinch of cumin

Pinch of coriander

salt and pepper to taste

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 medium coal and some oil

Directions:

1- Prepare the chicken, place the onion and 3 tbsp olive oil in a baking tray and stir for a minute then add the shredded carrots and stir till the onion is translucent.

2- Add the chopped tomatoes, cumin, coriander, turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, 3 cloves, 2 cardamom  and bay leaves, and stir.

3- Rub the chicken with lemon juice and same spice added before to the onion and place it in the tray with onion and add add 2 cups of water and cover on high heat to boil then lower the heat to medium for 45 to 60 minutes to cook.

4- Prepare the rice by placing 3 cups of water in a pan on high heat, add salt to taste, black pepper, 2 cloves, 1 cardamom, turmeric, and 2 tbsp of olive oil, let boil then add the rice and once boiled again cover and lower the heat to low and let cook for about 15 to 20 min., (in this step you can add a burning coal in a mini heat resistant bowl or ramekin to the pan and cover to give a stronger smell and taste).

5- Light the coal on the stove and prepare a small heat resistant bowl covered with foil and some sunflower oil in it or any king of oil and place this bowl in the oven.

6- Once the chicken and rice are ready remove the chicken from the tray and add the rice to the same tray and mix with the sauce in it and top again with the chicken then light the broiler to medium low and place the tray into the oven, place the burning coal in the small bowl and close the oven right away and let the chicken gain the smell of coal and a good color and crisp for about 10 minutes.

7- Transfer the rice to the serving plate topped with the chicken and hot green pepper, and... Bon Appétit :)