Khaddi kebab (the name means 'pit kebab') is the grand celebration dish of Balochistan, made for weddings, Eid and tribal feasts. A whole lamb or goat is stuffed with spiced rice, dried fruit and nuts, sewn shut, and lowered into an underground pit lined with hot stones, where it slow-roasts for 6 to 8 hours. The meat cooks in its own juices and the steam of the rice, the skin forming a natural seal that keeps every drop of moisture inside. When the pit is opened, the meat is so tender it falls apart at the touch, and the rice inside has absorbed all the juices, becoming intensely savoury. The dish is Balochistan's equivalent of the Uzbek palov or the Levantine mansaf, a dish of such generosity and labor that it is made only for the largest gatherings.
Fall-apart tender lamb that has been cooking in its own juices for hours, the rice inside intensely savoury and saturated with meat broth, the whole animal a single aromatic mass. Eaten by hand, pulled apart, with the rice served from inside the cavity.
The technique is underground pit roasting. A pit is dug, lined with stones, and a fire built in it for several hours until the stones are hot. The lamb is stuffed with parboiled spiced rice mixed with dried fruit and nuts, sewn shut with twine, wrapped in cloth (or left in its skin), and lowered into the pit on top of the hot stones. The pit is covered with earth and left for 6 to 8 hours, the residual heat of the stones cooking the lamb slowly from all sides. The skin or cloth wrapping seals the moisture inside, so the meat braises in its own juices and the rice cooks in the steam. The result is meat so tender it cannot be carved, only pulled, and rice saturated with lamb broth.
Variations
A simpler version wraps just the legs in cloth. Some use goat instead of lamb.
On the Palate
Where Balochi Khaddi Kebab sits in the Pakistani flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 12How it's made
6 steps · 1 hour
- 18 min
Dig a pit 1m deep; line with stones; build a fire on the stones for 3 hours until the stones are hot.
Watch outThe stones are ready when they glow whitish and water flicked on hisses instantly — only that stored heat cooks the lamb through over the long buried hours.
- 28 min
Stuff a whole lamb (about 8kg) with 1kg parboiled spiced rice mixed with 200g raisins and 200g almonds; sew the cavity shut.
- 35 min
Wrap the lamb in wet cotton cloth; lower it onto the hot stones in the pit.
Watch outSoak the cotton cloth fully wet before lowering it in — if it dries out the juices escape and the meat turns stringy.
- 45 min
Cover the pit with earth; leave for 6 to 8 hours.
- 54 min
Dig up carefully; unwrap; the meat should fall apart at the touch.
Watch outIt's done when the meat falls off the bone at a touch and shreds apart in your fingers — that's the sign the slow heat finished the job.
- 64 min
Pull the meat apart by hand; serve the rice from inside the cavity.
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