Pakistani Chicken Karahi Recipe
A classic restaurant style Pakistani chicken curry, made with minimal spices and lots of tomatoes.
Servings: 4 servings
Calories: 325kcal
Equipment
- 1 wok or karhayi
Ingredients
- 500 gm bone in chicken cut into small pieces
- 650 gm fresh roma tomatoes
- 1 ½ teaspoon table salt or to taste
- 1 tablespoon garlic paste
- 1/2 cup ghee or any neutral oil
- 1 teaspoon cumin powder (zeera)
- 2 teaspoon kashmiri red chili powder see notes
- 1/2 teaspoon garam masala powder all spice
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed blackpeppercorns
- 1 teaspoon dried fenugreek leaves kasuri methi
- 4 large Pakistani green chilies see notes
Garnish
- 1/2 inch ginger julliene cut
- 1 tablespoon coriander/cilantro leaves finely chopped
- 4 whole Large green chilies julliene cut
Instructions
Preparing Tomatoes
- Add cuts in the form of an x on the base of the tomatoes and remove the stem from the top.
- Put the tomatoes in a bowl and pour hot boiling water on them. Make sure they are covered atleast 80% in the water. Cover the bowl and let the tomatoes sit in the water for about 7 to 8 minutes
- After 7 to 8 minutes you will see the skin of the tomatoes peeling from the cuts. Discard the water. Peel off the skin of the tomatoes and discard the peels
- Cut the tomatoes into half and chuck them back in the bowl. Now using a potato masher or your hands, mash the tomatoes. They are now ready to be used.
Preparing the Curry
- Put a medium to large wok on medium high heat on the stove and add oil.
- Add in your chicken and saute for 2 to 3 minutes or until the chicken starts to get brown scorch marks from the wok.
- Add garlic paste, salt, red chili powder and cumin powder. Saute for another 2 to 3 mins.
- Now drop in your prepared tomatoes and saute for 2 mins.
- Reduce the heat to low and cover the wok. Cook for 5 to 8 mins or as long as it takes for all the tomatoes to leech out water.
- Once you see all the water leeched out, add green chilies and bring back the heat to medium high and cook for another 8 mins or until you see oil seperating
- Now reduce the heat to low, and add your finishing spices: crushed black peppercorns, dried fenugreek leaves and garam masala powder. Simply mix and your karhayi is ready.
- Garnish with ginger, green chilies and cilantro leaves. Serve with Naan, paratha or Rice
Notes
- Kashmiri red chili powder can easily be substituted with paprika powder. Kashmiri red chili is milder than regular red chili powder. IF you are using regular Indian red chili powder then use half the quantity mentioned.
1 teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder = 1 teaspoon paprika powder
1 teaspoon kashmiri red chili powder = 1/2 teaspoon Indian red chili powder - Large Pakistani green chilies are mild and easily tolerable heatwise. You can easily use fresh jalapenos, or pablanos or any mild green chilies instead.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 325kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 27g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 8g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 113mg | Sodium: 209mg | Potassium: 730mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 1455IU | Vitamin C: 24mg | Calcium: 38mg | Iron: 2mg