A traditional, and very easy, one pot spiced rice dish lamb popular in the Gulf area of the Middle East. This is probably the easiest preparation you’ll see of lamb Mandi, and it gives you great results- fluffy rice cooked at the same time as tender pull apart lamb shoulder, simple, just a little bit exotic and plenty delicious!
What is Lamb Mandi?
A very traditional dish, consisting very simply of rice and meat. No veggies in sight- making this very popular with my kids! Mandi is a preparation of lamb (or chicken) and rice, specifically where the method of cooking ensures that the juices of the cooking meat drip into the rice. Because of this, you barely need to season the rice, it gets so much flavor from the delicious meat.
What’s the difference between Mandi and Kabsa?
Technically, Mandi is usually cooked by being smoked in a special tandoori oven (an actual pit dug in the ground, covered with clay). I obviously didn’t make this recipe in a traditional manner, but I retained the concept of having the rice cook in the juices of the meat.
Kabsa is usually cooked more simply, with the rice and protein cooking separately, but is often a little more elaborate in its spices and accompaniments. I have a great recipe for chicken kabsa on this site!
The ingredients in Mandi:
You’ll find a lot of different preparations and ingredients, some with very lengthy and exotic spice lists. I kept this super simple, and it worked.
Rice: long grain basmati rice
Spices for the rice: cinnamon stick, cardamom pods, bay leaves, salt
Olive Oil: to drizzle the rice with
Lamb: We’ve tried this with lamb thigh and shoulder, but preferred the shoulder, finding it more tender.
Spices for the lamb: Kept it so simple. Cumin and coriander, salt and pepper. That’s it!
How to cook an easy Lamb Mandi?
In order to accomplish the mechanism in which the juices of the meat can reach the rice while the rice and lamb cook together, there are special pots they sell called Mandi pots. Basically, a form of nesting pots, where the top nesting layer has holes cut into the pan (where the meat is placed to cook), and the bottom layer is where you cook the rice, where it’ll catch all the lamb juices. It looks something like this.
Did I use a Mandi pot? Nope! I made my own. You just take a regular oven safe pot (after placing your rice mixture in it) and place a tight layer of foil over it, twisting the aluminum foil around the edges of the pot. I included a very low resolution video for your help:
After the foil is placed on top, I stab holes in it with a skewer. There! A Mandi pots!
How to garnish Mandi:
I LOVE toasted nuts. If you’ve been a follower for any length of time, you’ll know how much . (Eg, Macarona Billaban, Basil Pesto Chicken Pasta , Easy Spanokopita.)
I like to top my mandi with toasted pine nuts and almond slivers, and toasted golden raisins that become caramelised and add a tiny hint of smoky sweetness to the dish. The full method on toasting pine nuts and raisins can be found in this post.
Fresh herbs add a pop of colour, feel free to use coriander or parsley.
What to serve Lamb Mandi with:
I like a simple green salad, as well as yogurt with dried mint. You can also make a yogurt salad with cucumbers, like the one in this recipe.
Lamb Mandi
Ingredients
- 3 cups long grain basmati rice, soaked and rinsed
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 3 whole cardamom pods
- 1-2 bay leaves
- 1 dried lemon (lumee) if you have it
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 4.5 cups water
- 1.5 kg lamb shoulder with bone, trimmed of fat
- salt to season
- pepper to season
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1/2 tsp coriander powder
Instructions
- Heat oven to 220 C.
- To a large, oven safe pot, add the rice, cinnamon stick, cardamom pods, bay leaves, and dried lemon if using. Drizzle the olive oil on top of the rice in the pot. Pour water on top of the rice.
- Cover the pan tightly with foil, creasing the eges of the foil around the pan to ensure a tight fit, and stab the foil evenly with a skewer to get a distribution of holes in the foil.
- Season the lamb shoulder all over with salt, pepper, cumin powder and coriander, and massage the spices into the meat. Place the spiced meat on top of the foil covering the rice. Place a piece of parchment paper over the meat, then cover tightly with more aluminum foil so you have a foil wrapped parcel of lamb on top of the foil covered pot of rice.
- Cook for 3 hours, or until the lamb is cooked through and pulls easily off the bone with a fork. Fluff the rice, place on a serving platter, and serve with the lamb on top of the rice, garnished with toasted nuts and raisins, and fresh coriander and parsley if desired.
Nutrition
If you liked this recipe, you might like:
Middle Eastern Stuffed Zucchini
Bamia- Middle Eastern Okra and Meat Stew
Did you make this? Tag @everylittlecrumb or hashtag #everylittlecrumb and I’ll share your images!
This looks amazing. We are always looking for new ways to eat lamb.
It’s an easy and interesting way for sure!
A beautiful dish! I love lamb but don’t make it often. This is the type of post that makes me want to get into the kitchen right now and have this ready for dinner! Thanks for sharing.
It’s my pleasure and thanks so much Paula!
Your recipes are always so delicious, including this one! Love all of the spices you used here. Thanks for sharing.
Aw thanks you so much Angela!
This sounds like such a flavourful and delicious dish! I love that it is a one pot meal!
Truly easy, and delicious! Thanks Bintu!
Deooling over pics. Such a flavorful recipe. I will have to try this soon.
Thanks so much! Hope you enjoy it
Thank you for this! Looks awesome.
Quick question on the the portion of rice and water – how many cups of water for 3 cups of rice? And the rice is completely uncooked, right?
Easy and delicious! You’ll need enough water to cover the rice by about an 1/2 an inch to an inch- so that works out to 4.5 cups of water to 3 cups of uncooked basmati rice (yup, uncooked !)
I never prepared it before but wanted to give it a try in conventional oven. I have few questions, am scared or over cooking the rice and drying of meat for 3 hrs in oven. Will that even happen? Please let me know.
The very bottom of the rice might crisp up, bit don’t worry the top will be fluffy and delicious ! And the lamb won’t burn at the temperatures indicated, it should taste great! Do let me know if you try this and thanks for the comment
Your recipe is very simple and looks delicious, thanks for posting. I have a question about the oven. Have ypu used conventional? I am scared of over cooking the rice and drying up the meat as it is for 3 hrs on 220 heat. Please suggest what to do if that happens.
Hi Farah. This looks absolutely delicious. My mom loves chicken Mandi and I was wondering would the spices remain the same? Can I cook the rice in a rice cooker instead? Thank you.
Hi Farah! The spices can definitely remain the same, but I do suggest cooking the chicken on top of the rice in the same method so that the juice of the chicken flavors the rice! Let me know how it turns out !
Hello,
To confirm: Your instructions say 220c which is close to 425 degrees Fahrenheit, yes?
Thank you for your consideration,
RAbecca
Hi!! Yes indeed. You can also go as low as 400!
Thank you!
I’m getting started now.
Let me know!!
Tried recipe today …. followed recipe step by step. Unfortunately the cooking temp and rice to water ratio seemed off. The rice had “tahdig” crust but middle rice was mushy. :-/
Flavor was nice, but more like porridge.
(Used lamb shank btw)
Did I do something wrong??
Hi! I’ve never had a problem with the rice being mushy before- did you use basmati rice? Did you rinse the rice until water runs clear? Honestly not sure why that happened with you haven’t gotten that comment before! Not sure if using lamb shanks could affect this dish but I don’t see that being a problem
That’s what has me puzzled. I always cook basmati rice on the stovetop with the usual 20 minute time and then rest for 10 minutes and always works out great. I can’t imagine having the rice in the oven for 3 hours and not get mushy. Will have to try this though. What I am thinking is that usually basmati is a 1 to 2 ratio. 1 cup of basmati rice to 2 cups of whatever liquid you choose. So, by using a 1 to 1.5 ratio, this prevents it from getting mushy since the excess needed liquid comes from the meat/fat from above?
Ron
Could be yes! I know most stovetop recipes do call for that extra 0.5 cup of water to each cup of rice , this does great with a 1 to 1.5 ratio
I love your recipe but I am having a problem. My lower coil of oven doesn’t work so can I make this using just the heat from the upper coil?
I honestly haven’t tried it without having heat from up and down, I do think heat from the top is more important so the lamb browns so it could work!! Try and let me know? Hehe