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Pakistani Style Chicken Karahi

With bold and smokey flavor this Pakistani chicken karahi recipe will have you licking your fingers and coming back for more!
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time35 minutes
Total Time45 minutes
Course: dinner
Cuisine: Pakistani/Indian
Keyword: chicken recipes, karahi, Pakistani
Servings: 4
Author: Zeeshan Shah

Ingredients

  • 3 tablespoons neutral oil I use avocado oil or ghee
  • 4 cloves garlic minced or 2 teaspoons minced garlic
  • 1 inch knob ginger grated or 1 teaspoon minced ginger
  • 1 whole chicken about 2 lbs. cut up into 16 pieces
  • 2 teaspoons cumin powder
  • 2 teaspoons coriander powder
  • 2 teaspoons red chili powder
  • 11/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 teaspoons turmeric powder
  • 4 medium tomatoes I use Roma

Garnish

  • green chili julienned
  • 1/2 cup cilantro packed
  • Ginger julienned for garnish
  • 1/4 teaspoon garam masala
  • lemon / lime juice

Instructions

  • In a pan, on high heat, heat the oil, add garlic and stir till aromatic.
  • Add chicken and stir a minute till it turns white.
  • Add all the spices and stir fry on high heat.
  • Add the tomatoes whole, lower the heat to medium low and cover to cook about 20 minutes. Uncover after 20 minutes and de skin the tomatoes and mash them up and incorporate into the gravy. Cover and cook for an additional 10 minutes.
  • After 10 minutes uncover and increase the heat to medium and dry out the water so that the oil rises to the top, about 1 - 2 minutes. Keep stirring to a minimum as that will result in breaking up of the chicken.
  • Shut off the heat , add the garnish and enjoy!

Notes

  • I used to chop up the tomatoes, but I now add the whole tomato and fish out the skins later. It is so much easier then skinning the tomatoes individually! Just cut the top off as it is tougher than the rest of the tomato and won't mash as well.
  • The butter is missing from this recipe so that it could be kept dairy free but you can add a tablespoon or two if you like along with the oil or ghee.