A long-established dish
Mandi is a traditional dish known in Saudi Arabia for a long time and best known in the southern regions, Aseer and Al-Baha among them. There are two main kinds: chicken mandi, and lamb or goat mandi. Saudipedia lists it among the dishes that branch from kabsa, and Hasawi mandi is one of the known dishes of Al-Ahsa.
How it is made
A special pit is heated with fire until very hot, and a whole lamb or goat is placed inside, with or without rice. The pit is sealed tightly to keep air out and opened after about two hours, when the mandi is ready.
The meat may also be cooked in a tannour or in a round pit dug in the ground, closed with a lid and packed with clay around the sides to hold the heat. Faster modern electric appliances can replace these methods today, while heritage enthusiasts keep to the old way and its tools.
Mandi in restaurants
Restaurants place the meat in a round pit of clay or iron no more than 100 cm deep and 40 to 50 cm wide. Wood is burned in it until it turns to embers; a pot of rice is set in the pit with the meat or chicken, seasoned with saffron and salt, on top; and it is well covered, so that fat drips from the meat onto the rice for two hours before serving.
Mandi in Al-Baha
In Al-Baha demand rises with visitors from Tihama who come for dinner, and it is more popular in winter than in summer. Mandi restaurants compete on cooking methods and spices to draw customers from Al-Baha and beyond.
Rules for mandi restaurants
Government bodies have set technical requirements for mandi restaurants: a floor area of at least 100 square metres, 35 of them for preparing and cooking mandi; lambs and goats slaughtered in licensed slaughterhouses under the health requirements for restaurants and kitchens; and a section set aside for cooking mandi.
Preparation needs one or more tannours: underground cylindrical pits with walls of heat-resistant brick, two steel lids (a flat one with a hole in the centre and a domed upper cover) and stainless-steel rods for hanging the meat. A tiled strip 30 cm wide beside the tannour holds the sand used in the method, and the cloth covering the tannour must be kept clean.