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Pakistani chicken karahi
Chicken cooked hard and fast with fresh tomatoes, garlic, ginger and green chilli until the sauce clings to every piece, as it is made in the roadside restaurants of Lahore. A karahi is the deep, wok-like pan it is cooked in; a wide frying pan works too.
- 55 minutes
- Prep 15 minutes
- Cook 40 minutes
- Serves 4
Our own recipe. The photograph is AI-generated.
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons (60ml) vegetable oil
- 800g boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into large chunks
- 6 garlic cloves, finely grated
- A large thumb of ginger (about 30g), peeled: two thirds grated, the rest cut into thin matchsticks
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 5 ripe tomatoes (about 500g), chopped
- 2 teaspoons ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 to 2 teaspoons Kashmiri chilli powder (a mild, bright red chilli powder)
- 1 teaspoon coarsely crushed black pepper
- 3 to 4 green chillies, slit down one side
- 1 teaspoon garam masala (a warm spice mix)
- A small bunch of fresh coriander (about 20g), chopped
- To serve: 300g basmati rice
- 1 lemon, cut into wedges
Let's cook
- Heat the oil in a karahi, wok or large, wide frying pan on a high heat. Add the chicken and cook for 5 to 6 minutes, turning it, until it is lightly browned all over. It will not be cooked through yet.
- Add the garlic and grated ginger and stir for 1 minute until they smell sweet. Add the salt and the tomatoes, stir, then cover with a lid or a large plate and turn the heat down to medium. Cook for 10 minutes until the tomatoes have collapsed.
- Meanwhile, cook the rice. Rinse it in a sieve until the water runs almost clear. Put it in a pan with 550ml water and a pinch of salt, bring to the boil, then cover, turn the heat to its lowest and cook for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave it covered for 5 minutes.
- Uncover the chicken. Pick out any tomato skins if you like, and mash the tomatoes into the sauce with the back of a spoon. Stir in the ground coriander, cumin and chilli powder.
- Turn the heat back up to high and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring often, until the sauce is thick, clings to the chicken and the oil starts to separate at the edges. If it sticks, add a splash of water.
- Check the chicken is cooked: cut open the largest piece. It should be white all the way through with no pink, and the juices should run clear.
- Stir in the green chillies, black pepper and garam masala and cook for 2 minutes more. Scatter over the ginger matchsticks and coriander, and serve straight from the pan with the rice and lemon wedges.
Tips
- Keep the heat high once the tomatoes have softened. Karahi is a dry, rich curry, not a soupy one.
- Thighs stay juicy in the fierce heat; breast meat dries out more quickly.
- Cool leftovers within an hour and keep them in the fridge for up to 2 days. Reheat until steaming hot.
Swaps
- Milder for children: use 1 teaspoon of chilli powder, and add the green chillies whole so they can be lifted out.
- With bread: serve with warm naan in place of rice (naan contains gluten and often milk).
Tags
In Feed the family.
None of the 14 allergens is in this recipe as written. Check the garam masala packet, as spice mixes can be packed where mustard or celery are handled.
Check every packet for allergens.