Chicken Mandi | Kuzhimanti

Mandi or Kuzhimanti is a food item from Yemen.  Mandi is popular among the Arab people at weddings and other celebrations. ‌ Manti, which is also popular in Kerala, is cooked in pits.  Let’s take a look at how to make mandi with a lot of flavor without the pit.

You can make mandi with chicken or mutton wi  To prepare the mandi, you first need to prepare a spice.

Ingredients needed to prepare manti

• 1 kg Chicken with skin
• 3 Maggie Chicken Cube
• 1 tbsp Mandi Masala 
• 1 tsp Crushed pepper 
• 1/4 tsp Red Food Color (optional)
• 1/4 cup Refined oil
• 1 finely chopped Onion 
• 1 Chopped capsicum
• 1 tbsp chopped Coriander leaves
• 1 tbsp Mint leaves 
• 3 cups of log grain Basmati rice
• 1/4 tsp Saffron
• 1/4 cup milk
• 4 Cardamoms
• 4 cloves
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 dried lemon
• 1 tbsp refined oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 6 green chillies
• red food color/beetroot juice
• a small piece of charcol or coconut shell

 Ingredients required for manti masala

• 1 tbsp Coriander
• 6 Dried red chillies 
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 tsp pepper
• a small piece nutmeg
• 1/2 dried lemon
• 1 star anise
• 1 bay leaf
• 5 cardamom
• 5 cloves
• a small piece of cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder

Roast  Ingredients other than turmeric powder,  on low heat for 5 minutes without adding oil. Turn off the heat,add turmeric powder and allow it to cool. Transfer the spices in a mixer jar, and grind into a fine powder.

How to prepare chicken manti

• Marinate chicken with Maggi Chicken Cube, Crushed pepper , Manthi Masala and Red Food Color (optional) and leave for at least 2 hours (If you do not have Maggi Chicken Cube, add a little ginger, garlic paste and salt instead).
• Soak 1/4 tsp of saffron in hot milk.  If you do not have saffron, you can mix 1/4 teaspoon of turmeric powder with milk.
• Wash the basmati rice well and soak it in water for half an hour.
• Heat 1/4  cup of refined oil in a large biriyani pot.  Add chopped onion and capsicum and fry.  Add a little coriander and mint leaves and arrange the marinated chicken pieces.  Cover and cook on low heat for 10 minutes. Turn after 10 minutes and cover again.
• Meanwhile, boil 10 cups of water in another pot.  Add cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, dried lemon, a tablespoon of refined oil and a teaspoon of salt and bring to a boil.  When it boils well, add the soaked rice.  When it is 80% cooked, drain.
• The chicken is now well cooked. Remove half the chicken pieces from the pan. Arrange cooked rice and add 6 green chillies to the rice.  Pour in the pre-soaked saffron to get a nice color.  Instead of saffron, you can add turmeric powder.  Grate beetroot and squeeze a little juice to get red color.Arrange chicken pieces on top.  
• Heat a piece of charcoal/coconut shell on direct flame until it is sred hot, this will take about 5 minutes.Once the charcoal is burning hot, place it in the bowl of oil that is in the rice.Cover immediately with a tight lid / aluminium foil.
• Simmer on low heat for 15 minutes.
• To serve, spread rice onto a large serving tray and place a piece of chicken on the top.