Chicken Mandi

An Arabic dish with chicken and rice baked simultaneously. Using Arabic spices along with other masala, this dish is novel and delicious.

Ingredients
2 whole leg pieces of 1 chicken
2 cups rice
1 ½ cups boiled water
2 sliced onions
1 tbsp ghee
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp minced garlic
½ cup lemon juice
½ teaspoon black pepper
2 tbsp Arabic spice powder
5 cardamom pods
5 cloves
3 cinnamon sticks
1 tsp saffron
Salt, as required

Preparation
Preheat the oven at 150 degrees
In a bowl add minced garlic, lemon juice, black pepper, Arabic spice powder, butter and salt, and mix well. Marinate the chicken in this mixture and refrigerate for 1 hour
Wash the rice and soak it for 10 minutes. Drain and put in an oven proof glass tray
Fry the onion slices in ghee until golden color. Add this onion to the rice and mix it
Add water, salt, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, and saffron
Cover the tray with aluminium foil, and pierce the foil in several places with a knife. Place the chicken pieces on top of the pierced places of the foil
Cover the chicken and the tray with another layer of aluminium foil and seal it tight
Place the tray in the preheated oven for 1 ½ hours until the chicken and rice are cooked well
Arrange the rice in a serving dish with the chicken pieces on top of it
Serve hot


(The author is a chef and tutor @ Greens Ayurveda, Mahe)