New Wildly Popular Hyderabadi Mandi at Banana Leaf, Culver City

(Gerry Furth-Sides) New chicken or fish mandi biryani, at Banana Leaf in Culver City come complete with the platter. Wildly popular in Hyderabad in South India. Biryani lover and Banana Leaf owner/executive chef Sri Sambangi was introduced to it, and loved it so much he bought the dishes and put it on the menu almost as soon as he returned. 

“ Mandi” in Arabic means “dewy” and refers to the moist meat that is traditionally cook in a tandoor oven.  The traditional dish that originated from Hadhramaut, Yemen, consisted mainly of meat and rice with a special blend of spices, cooked in a pit underground. 

Dum Biryani ingredients are marinated and cooked for hours in layers in one pot that is covered. Mandi Biryani’s ingredients are cooked separately and not necessarily in a covered pot. This works so much better with proteins like fish.

The dish, with its bold flavors, array of spices and fun was of shared eating became extremely popular and prevalent in most areas of the Arabian Peninsula, and even considered a staple dish in many regions.

This communal rice dish of mandi is usually made with meat, and has many of the same ingredients as biriyani. But it is different in the way it’s cooked and served. The meat is cooked separately and then piled on top of the rice before it’s served.

Fish can also be used. It it marinated with yogurt and spices, as in the Fish Fry dish, is deep fried as usual, and then placed on a layer of biryani rice laced with saffron.

While the traditional mandi is made with meat, cloves, cinnamon, saffron and cardamom, the Hyderabadi version is slightly different.   One bowl holds creamy raita, the other the unusual nutty, spicy sauce,   mirchi ka salan that is traditional with biryani. 

Classic, sunny hard boiled eggs on the plate are soft enough to contrast with crispy red onion rings add taste and texture, all brightened and pulled together with a wedge of lime.

Mandi has most of the same characteristics and flavors as biryani. But it is different in the way it is cooked and served.  Goat, chicken or fish layered with rice in classic biryani fish are layered and cooked together in a sealed pot.

In Mandi, the meat and the rice are first cooked separately. Then the meat is placed on top of the rice before it’s served. All the ingredients are clearly visible when a guest sees the dish on a table.

Adding to the communal sharing element of the dish, Indian diners, and hard core or adventurous LA diners eat it with their hands.  The Banana Leaf staff is also happy to offer flatware.

One observer wrote that the craze is so widespread it seems that “mandi outlets are setting up in every nook and corner of Hyderabad, especially in the Old City. The nerve centre of this dish is the Barkas area, where people of Arabic lineage have settled. Their forefathers arrived in Hyderabad in search of livelihood in the era of the Nizam of erstwhile Hyderabad state.”

Even the Hyderabad restaurants have gotten into the picture. Many have opened up a separate section just for mandi, complete with new seating arrangements. Instead of traditional chairs and tables, this communal Arab dish is served on short-legged tables, called ‘chowkis’, . They are just big enough for four people must sit on the floor around it and eat.

10408 Venice Blvd Suite: B, Culver City, CA 90232 (650) 872-9304. Hours: 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM, 5 PM to 9:30 PM.  Closed Wednesday. (www.bananaleafla.com)