Yemeni Lamb Mandi, Made in a Home Oven
Mandi is made by roasting lamb rubbed with mandi spices on a rack above a tray of rice, so its juices drip into the grains. Smoking it with a piece of lit charcoal in a small cup inside the covered tray for five minutes is what produces the distinctive Yemeni flavour.
- Prep
- 25 min
- Cook
- 120 min
- Total
- 145 min
- Calories
- 620
In Yemen, mandi is cooked in a pit dug into the ground, and that is where the smoke comes from. At home a simple smoking step stands in for the pit, and it gets remarkably close.
Method
-
1
Season the lamb
Rub the lamb all over with the spices, salt and oil, cover it and leave it for at least an hour — overnight in the fridge is better.
⏱ 20 min -
2
Simmer first
Simmer the lamb in water with the onion, dried limes, cardamom and cinnamon until it is tender enough to pull from the bone. Keep the stock.
⏱ 75 min -
3
The rice
In a deep roasting tray: the drained rice with four and a half cups of the strained lamb stock and the saffron. Check the salt.
⏱ 8 min -
4
Roast above the rice
Set a rack over the tray and lay the lamb on it, then seal the whole thing tightly with foil. Bake at 200°C for thirty minutes, then remove the foil and let the lamb brown for fifteen minutes.
⏱ 45 min 🔥 200°C -
5
Smoking
Light the charcoal until it glows, set it in a small metal cup in the middle of the rice, pour a spoon of oil over it, and cover the tray immediately for five minutes before removing the cup.
⏱ 8 min
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Tips that actually matter
- The pierced dried limes give mandi its particular sourness — don't skip them.
- Five minutes of smoking is enough; longer and the taste turns acrid.
- No rack? Lay the lamb straight on the rice — the juices still run into it.
People also ask
Can I make it with chicken?
Yes, and it's much faster — simmer for thirty minutes instead of an hour and a quarter; everything else is the same.
My rice came out sticky.
Too much stock, or the rice wasn't drained. The ratio that works is one and a half cups of stock per cup of soaked basmati.
What's the difference between mandi and kabsa?
Mandi is roasted above the rice and smoked, with a gentler spice profile. Kabsa is cooked with a tomato base and is more strongly spiced.
Cook mode
Yemeni Lamb Mandi, Made in a Home Oven
-
1
Season the lamb
Rub the lamb all over with the spices, salt and oil, cover it and leave it for at least an hour — overnight in the fridge is better.
-
2
Simmer first
Simmer the lamb in water with the onion, dried limes, cardamom and cinnamon until it is tender enough to pull from the bone. Keep the stock.
-
3
The rice
In a deep roasting tray: the drained rice with four and a half cups of the strained lamb stock and the saffron. Check the salt.
-
4
Roast above the rice
Set a rack over the tray and lay the lamb on it, then seal the whole thing tightly with foil. Bake at 200°C for thirty minutes, then remove the foil and let the lamb brown for fifteen minutes.
-
5
Smoking
Light the charcoal until it glows, set it in a small metal cup in the middle of the rice, pour a spoon of oil over it, and cover the tray immediately for five minutes before removing the cup.
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