Chicken Kabsa

Had the friends over for a Diwali lunch. No way I was cooking and the man was too exhausted to cook in the middle of a gruelling work week. Skipped the Indian cuisine and decided on having mandi instead. I love mandi, and if I'm going big on rice, I always prefer mandi over biryani. Ordered in from Abu Mubarak Mandi Rice. 

The restaurant had their usual mandi on the menu, but they also had a Deepavali special of a whole grilled chicken with saudi kabsah rice. Or you could just call it chicken kabsa. That sounded sooooo good. Since this was a festival special, I got two tubs to share some noms and joy with the neighbors. Considering that the restaurant is located damn far from us all the way in Tampines, the food arrived on time and still warm. 

The chicken kabsa came with Arabic sambal, salad, cucumber yoghurt salad and two small tubs of muhalabiyah (Arabic milk pudding). The rice was definitely enough for four persons. But I knew the salad wouldn't be sufficient. I always like a hearty salad at the side. I prepped an extra bowl of salad — cherry tomatoes and peppers, roasted sweet potatoes and pumpkin, spiced cauliflowers, chickpeas and added more leaves. 

The kabsa was fantastic! The spices used in this iteration were lovely. The rice didn't feel too heavy when shared among friends, and the salad evened out all nutritional needs. We haven't had guests over for a meal for a while, and I feared the cleaning up after. So I couldn't be happier that we opted to order in the mains instead of trying to cook it all on our own. It definitely made lunch enjoyable because the cleaning-up was fuss-free and not at all a bother.