🍗 Chicken Madhbi
Chicken madhbi is a Yemeni and Saudi dish of chicken grilled on hot, flat stones heated over embers. The chicken is marinated with garlic, lemon, turmeric, cumin and black pepper, then seared until charred outside and juicy inside. It is served over spiced rice, often with lemon wedges and a fresh chilli sauce on the side.
Diets
Allergens
None of the 14 major allergens in a typical recipe.
What it is made of
Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 chicken (about 1.2 kg), halved or quartered
- 300 g basmati rice
- 4 garlic cloves, crushed
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp oil
- Salt
Method
- Mix garlic, lemon juice, turmeric, cumin, pepper, salt and oil; coat the chicken and leave 30 minutes.
- Heat a heavy stone, cast-iron pan or grill until very hot.
- Cook the chicken skin side down, pressing it flat, for about 15 minutes per side until cooked through.
- Meanwhile, cook the rice with a pinch of turmeric, cumin and salt.
- Serve the chicken over the rice with lemon wedges.
How to make it lighter
- Remove the skin after grilling to save a good share of fat.
- Let breast meat make up most of your portion for more protein per calorie.
- Half rice, half salad on the plate keeps the meal lighter.
History
The name comes from the Arabic word for grilling on stones, a technique with roots in Yemen. Madhbi is now common in restaurants across Yemen and Saudi Arabia, where it is often cooked on large stone or metal griddles.
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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →