Name: Madfoon (Madfun)
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 2 h
Total time: 2 h 25 min
Cuisine: Saudi
Ingredients: 1.2 kg lamb or chicken, on the bone; 2 tbsp madfoon/mandi spice mix; 2 onions, chopped; 1 tbsp ginger–garlic paste; 3 tbsp oil or ghee; Salt to taste; 500 g (2½ cups) basmati rice, soaked 30 min; About 1 litre reserved broth; Pinch of saffron in warm water; 1 cinnamon stick, 4 cardamom, 4 cloves, 1 bay leaf; 1 piece of natural lump charcoal; 1 tbsp ghee; 3 tbsp fried nuts and raisins

Madfoon buried meat and rice with smoky aroma — Photo: Miansari66 · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons

Madfoon means “buried” — a nod to its origins, where seasoned meat was wrapped and cooked buried in a pit of hot embers. In the Saudi kitchen it has become a close cousin of mandi: the spiced meat is nestled into the rice and slow-finished together, often with the dukhan smoke, so the grains drink up every drop of flavour. Rustic, smoky and satisfying.

Servings: 5
Prep: 25 minutes
Cook: 2 hours
Total: 2 hours 25 minutes
Difficulty: Intermediate
Rice: Aged long-grain basmati

Method

Tick a step to mark it done.

Step 1: Brown the onions in oil, add ginger–garlic paste, then the spiced meat and sear well.
Step 2: Add water to cover, season, and simmer until tender (about 1½ hours for lamb, 35 minutes for chicken). Reserve about 1 litre of broth; keep the meat.
Step 3: Cook the drained rice in the measured broth with saffron and whole spices until nearly done, about 12 minutes.
Step 4: Bury the meat down into the rice, cover and steam on the lowest heat a further 15 minutes.
Step 5: Add the dukhan smoke (hot charcoal drizzled with ghee, pot sealed) for 5–10 minutes.
Step 6: Uncover, lift the meat to the top, garnish and serve.

To serve

Serve with daqoos and a crisp salad.

Madfoon (Madfun)

Ingredients

Method

More Saudi recipes

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Lamb Kabsa

Chicken Mandi