Chicken Karahi Recipe
Chicken Karahi is a Pakistani curry dish, and of course, there is an Indian version too. Today we will stick with the Pakistani chicken karahi recipe and teach you the art of impressing your guests big time. The authentic recipe uses cuts of chicken with bones, I used boneless chicken cubes to reduce cooking time.
What is Chicken Karahi?
Chicken karahi and sometimes you’ll find it as Karahi Chicken, or in Urdu it’s called “Murgh karahi” it is translated into Chicken in a vessel. Karahi is either made of copper or stainless steel, Indians and Pakistanis use it for cooking and for serving food. Chicken karahi is chicken cooked in spicy and flavorful gravy or masala.
Ingredients to make Chicken Karahi
Chicken – I have used skinless and boneless chicken thighs cut into cubes, but you can cut a whole chicken into small pieces and keep the bone. Make sure to remove the skin.
Onion – As always, I like to use purple onion, which is used in most Indian and Pakistani cooking. However, you can go for the yellow onion and get the same result.
Tomatoes – Choose ripe tomatoes; the hard ones won’t have much flavor to the gravy and will not release enough water to cook the chicken.
Ginger, garlic, and green chili.
Blend of spices – Garam masala, turmeric, cumin, red chili flakes. In Pakistan, they add crushed black pepper at the end of cooking which gives a fantastic depth of flavor, but you can skip it and still enjoy a great tasting Chicken Karahi.
Ghee – I have made a post on how to make ghee at home, make sure to check it out!
How to cook Chicken Karahi?
No worries, following the steps is easy even if you were a beginner at cooking, so relax and enjoy cooking!
- In a hot Karahi or pan, add the Ghee, and when hot, add the chopped onion.
- Sauté the onion until light brown and to it, add the ginger and garlic; make sure the flame is on low when you add the ginger and garlic since it can burn quickly and give a bitter taste to the dish.
- Add the chicken and bring the heat to medium-high; cook the chicken for 4 minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook for 3 more minutes.
- Now is the time to add the spices and the green chili and cook for a few seconds while the heat is on medium-low; burning the spices will also release a bitter taste to the dish.
- If there is not enough liquid for the chicken to cook, add the boiling water and let the chicken cook until tender.
- At last, add the salt according to your taste and the coriander leaves, cover the pan and cook for 10 minutes on medium-low. Garnish with julienned ginger (optional).
What to serve with Chicken Karahi?
Indian flatbread, naan, coconut milk rice, or even pita bread.
How to store chicken karahi
Place the chicken karahi in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to three days. If you have made a big batch, store it in the same container in the freezer for up to two months. Let it thaw in the fridge overnight and heat it on the stovetop.
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Chicken Karahi Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 skinless and boneless chicken thighs cut into cubes
- 1 large onion finely chopped
- 2 medium size tomatoes chopped
- 1 ½ teaspoon garlic paste
- 1 ½ inch ginger grated
- 2 green chilis cut in halves
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon garam masala powder
- Salt to taste
- ½ teaspoon red chili flakes
- 1 ½ teaspoon cumin powder
- 5 tablespoon Ghee you can use oil
- ¾ cup boiling water
- 3 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves
- * julienne around 1 tablespoon of ginger to garnish. optional
Instructions
- In a hot pan, add the ghee and when hot add the onion and sauté until light brown.
- Add the ginger and garlic paste and sauté for one minute on medium heat. Careful not to burn it.
- Add the chicken to the pan and sauté on medium high for 4 minutes.
- Add the chopped tomatoes and sauté for 3 minutes.
- Add the spices and the green chili and cook for few seconds on medium heat.
- Add the boiling water and cook on medium low for 30 minutes. Cook until the chicken is tender.
- You can now add the salt and adjust to your liking.
- Add the coriander leaves, cover and cook for 10 minutes on medium-low.
- Serve hot with Paratha or plain white rice.
Notes
- If the tomatoes are too ripe, remove the seeds and then use them in the recipe.
- Use yellow onion if the purple onion is not available.
- You may notice that some chicken karahi recipes are red due to red chili powder and paprika powder, which you can add, but I don’t think it’s necessary for this recipe.
- Cherry tomatoes are ok to use.
- For my readers in Africa. Some parts of Africa use hard chicken (old chicken) in cooking; if you want to make this dish, you will need more water than the amount mentioned in my recipe card.
- Although the authentic source of fat to cook chicken karahi is ghee, and it’s good for you, but you can replace it with your choice of flavorless oil.
- Adding the shredded ginger at the end of cooking adds a lot of flavors, but if you don’t want to chew it while eating, then cut the ginger into medium size, add it to the dish and allow it to release the flavor for at least 15 minutes, and then remove it before serving.
- If you are using chicken with bones (which by the way will add more flavor) the cooking time will be a little longer.
- This post was originally posted in October 2018 and is now updated with more details.
This looks so yummy! I am huge love of putting lemon in and on everything so I’m sure I would really enjoy this dish!
Kileen
I’ve been looking for new chicken recipes and will definitely try this one!
I have not heard of this before but I know my whole family would love it!
Very informative and that really do looks delicious! I would love to try this soon. Thanks for sharing!
This is my favourite dish! I love to make it often, will try your version as well 😊
This looks so delicious! Looking forward to making this sometime, thanks for sharing the recipe with us!
I made this for dinner this week. It was amazing!
Thanks for your feedback Alexis, and I’m glad that you have enjoyed it 🙂
I’ve never encountered Chicken Karah but now I’ve decided that I’m going to make it this week because it looks so yummy!
This looks super tasty. You always share the post recipes.
This really is a restaurant-style Pakistani Chicken Karahi recipe that can be prepared quickly and easily with no finicky step!
Easy dish to make and brought lots of flavor! Will make the rotation of easy dinners to make when I need something quick and flavorful. Glad I discovered it!