Fish Mandi (Yemeni-Saudi smoked rice) with basmati
Fish mandi is the coastal version of the well-known Yemeni Mandi (Yemeni-Saudi smoked meat & rice) family: fish grilled with the yellow mandi spice blend served over rice smoked with charcoal.
It is a fixture on the menus of mandi restaurants in Jeddah, Abha, and Dammam.
Wash the fish and dry it, then make three slashes on each side and rub it inside and out with half the garlic and ginger along with the spices, loomi, salt, and a squeeze of lemon, and leave it for half an hour so the marinade penetrates the flesh.
In a wide pot, stir the onion in the oil until golden, add the rest of the garlic and ginger and the spices, then the soaked rice and stir until coated in the oil, then add the hot salted water. After it boils, lower the heat and cover the pot for eighteen minutes until the rice is cooked.
Place the seasoned fish on a tray lined with parchment paper and grill it in an oven at 220 degrees for twenty minutes until cooked, its skin browns, and its bone separates easily. The fish is grilled separately because its flesh is too tender to be cooked with the rice from the start.
Place the grilled fish over the cooked rice, and plant a small foil cup in the middle of the pot holding a lit charcoal piece, drizzle a few drops of oil onto it, and close the lid for ten minutes. The trapped smoke gives the rice and fish the familiar mandi flavor without a pit.
Lift out the charcoal and scatter the raisins and almonds over the top, and serve it with sahawiq (a spicy Yemeni tomato sauce) or daqqus and lemon, as the mandi restaurants of the coastal cities serve it.
The glycemic index (GI) measures how quickly a food raises blood sugar, while the glycemic load (GL) measures how much a full serving raises it. Together they give the complete picture.
A low value (≤55) means a gradual rise in blood sugar — the most suitable range for diabetes and insulin resistance.
Glycemic load reflects the impact of the full serving. To lower it: take half a serving, or pair the recipe with a source of protein and fiber.
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000-calorie diet per FDA food-label reference values — your daily needs may be higher or lower. Values are derived from the recipe's ingredients via the USDA database.
The most common problems when preparing Fish Mandi with Basmati, and how to fix them:
It was cooked with the rice from the start or flipped roughly. Grill it separately and place it over the rice at the end, and move it with two wide spatulas together.
The charcoal was not glowing or the lid was not tight. Use a glowing red charcoal piece, drizzle oil onto it, and seal the lid with a towel for the full ten smoking minutes.
The amount of turmeric is too little. Add the full measure of turmeric at the step of sauteing the rice, for it is the source of mandi's yellow color.
The fish was not washed well. Wash it with salt and lemon and rub it with the full marinade, for the loomi and lemon clearly reduce the fish smell.
Served hot the moment it is smoked, for these are its best conditions.
Two days with the fish separated from the rice, reheated by steaming and brought together at serving.
The grilled fish dries out with freezing, while the rice alone keeps for a month.
| Original Ingredient | Tested Substitute | Ratio | Flavor Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole grouper | Thick fish fillet | 800 g | Boneless, suitable for children, and its grilling time drops to twelve minutes |
| Charcoal | A pinch of smoked paprika in the rice | ~ | Gives a hint of smoke flavor for those without charcoal |
| Sahawiq | Spicy tomato daqqus | ~ | Both are a spicy sauce served with mandi |
| White basmati | Brown basmati | 1:1 | Higher fiber, with fifteen extra minutes of cooking and a quarter more water |
| Ingredient | 4 servings | 2 servings | 8 servings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fish | 1.2 kg | 600 g | 2.4 kg |
| Rice | 500 g | 250 g | 1 kg |
| Water | 850 ml | 425 ml | 1.7 L |
The fish is grilled separately and then placed over the rice only in the final ten smoking minutes, because fish flesh is too tender to withstand the long cooking with the rice, and cooking it with it from the start breaks it up. The sign of doneness is that the bone separates easily and the flesh turns opaque (the safe internal temperature for fish is 63 degrees Celsius according to USDA food safety guidelines).
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