Yemeni Chicken Mandi

Mix 3 tbsp Hawaij, 2 tsp Salt, 3 tbsp Neutral oil, 6 cloves Garlic, the juice of 1 Lemons and 4 tbsp Plain yoghurt into a thick paste. Rub it all over 1.8 kg Chicken, working it under the skin and into the joints. Leave it to sit while the oven heats.

⚠ Tip: The yoghurt is not there for flavour: its acid tenderises the meat so it stays juicy under hard heat.

Rinse 600 g Basmati rice in cold water, changing it until it runs clear, then leave it to soak. This is what keeps the grains separate instead of gluey.

Warm 40 g Ghee in the pot you will bake the rice in. Add 6 Green cardamom pods, 4 Cloves, 2 Bay leaves and 1 Cinnamon sticks and stir for a minute, until the kitchen smells like a spice souk.

⚠ Tip: Do not let the spices brown: burnt cardamom turns the whole pot bitter.

Add the 1 Brown onions and cook them slowly until soft and sweet but not coloured.

Drain the rice and stir it into the pot with 700 ml Water. Add 1 pinch Saffron and bring it to a boil. Cook for just 5 min: the rice should be barely half done, still chalky at the core and dry on the surface.

⚠ Tip: Under-cooked now is the point. It finishes under the chicken, drinking the spiced fat instead of turning to porridge.

Heat the oven to 200 °C with the rack low.

Spoon the par-cooked rice into a deep roasting tin and level it. Sit the marinated chicken on top, skin-side up, so the juices run into the rice. Scatter over 60 g Raisins if using and tuck the tin foil tight.

Roast covered for 40 min, then tear the foil off and blast it for another 15 min, until the skin is burnished brown and the rice at the edges is crusted and crackling.

⚠ Tip: If the skin refuses to crisp, finish under the grill and watch it: seconds separate lacquered from black.

While the chicken roasts, toast 50 g Blanched almonds in a dry pan until golden and set aside.

Pull the tin out. Put the 1 Natural lump charcoal straight onto a gas flame or into the embers until it glows red through and through. Set it in a small metal cup or a fold of foil in the middle of the rice, pour a spoonful of the remaining Neutral oil over the coal so it smoulders, and clamp the lid or foil back on. Leave it for 5 min, no peeking, until the smoke has gone right through the rice.

⚠ Tip: A coal that is only half lit gives you acrid, petrol smoke. Wait for grey ash all over before it goes in the tin.

Lift out the coal and throw it away. Fork the rice onto a wide platter, breaking up the crusty edges, sit the chicken on top, and scatter over the toasted almonds and 1 bunch Coriander. Serve it straight away, with yoghurt or zhoug on the side.