A southern Arabian technique from Jizan, Asir and neighboring Yemen: butterflied chicken or lamb is cooked directly on granite or basalt slabs heated white-hot over a wood fire, the stone searing and steaming at once. No skewer, no grate — the rock itself is the grill, giving a distinct mineral crust.
Also known as: madbi, mathbi, madhbi chicken, laham madhbi, stone-grilled madhbi, مضبي
Watch it made
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken (about 1.4 kg), butterflied
- 1.5 tbsp coarse salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 3 garlic cloves, mashed
- 2 tbsp ghee or oil
- 2 limes
- khubz or rice, to serve
- sahawiq (green chili-coriander relish)
How to make it
- 1
Set a thick granite slab, pizza stone or heavy cast-iron plate directly over a wood fire or high burner and heat it a full 20 minutes — madhbi means cooked on the stone itself.
- 2
Flatten the butterflied chicken and rub it with salt, pepper, cumin, garlic and ghee.
- 3
Slap the bird skin-down onto the bare hot stone and weigh it with a second pan or rock.
- 4
After 15 minutes, flip and cook 12-15 minutes more, until juices from the thigh joint run clear onto the sizzling stone.
- 5
Chop into pieces with a cleaver and serve on bread with lime and sahawiq.
Pro tip: Resist oiling the stone — the dry-stone contact is what gives madhbi its parched, toasty crust that grilling cannot copy.
