isithalal.food · Recipes

Chicken karahi

Pakistani chicken karahi cooked hot and fast in tomato, ginger and green chilli, with Halal chicken and a ghee or oil you have checked.

Pakistani · Main · Easy · 4 plates with naan · 50 min

Each method follows published technique for the dish, and every Halal substitution is checked against the ingredient pages we cite. Photographs come from our ingredient library rather than the finished dish.

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Why Halal checks matter here

Karahi is Halal where the chicken is Halal-slaughtered; outside Pakistan, check the chicken, and check that the ghee is butter ghee, not a blended animal fat.

Halal-critical ingredients

• Chicken: In Pakistan chicken is Halal by default; in the UK, Europe and North America a karahi is only as Halal as the chicken bought for it. Buy from a Halal butcher or a certified pack. See Chicken.
• Ghee or cooking fat: Desi ghee is clarified butter. Vanaspati and some catering fats are blends that can include animal fat. Use butter ghee, vegetable oil, or a vanaspati that lists plant oils only. See Ghee.
• Ready-made karahi masala: Spice packets are usually just spices and salt, but some list flavour enhancers or unnamed flavourings. Read the pack, or crush your own coriander, cumin and pepper as here.

Ingredients

Karahi

• 1 kg (2.2 lb) Halal-slaughtered chicken, bone-in, cut into 12 small pieces
• 80 ml (⅓ cup) ghee (butter ghee) or neutral oil
• 500 g (1.1 lb) ripe tomatoes, quartered
• 20 g (4 cloves) garlic, crushed
• 20 g (1½ in piece) ginger, crushed
• 8 g (1¼ tsp) fine salt
• 4 g (1½ tsp) crushed red chilli flakes
• 4 g (2 tsp) coriander seeds, coarsely crushed
• 3 g (1 tsp) cumin seeds, toasted and crushed
• 2 g (¾ tsp) black pepper, coarsely ground
• 60 g (¼ cup) plain yogurt, whisked (optional, Lahori style)

To finish

• 4 (4) green chillies, slit
• 15 g (1 in piece) ginger, cut into thin matchsticks
• 10 g (¼ cup) fresh coriander, chopped
• 1 g (½ tsp) garam masala
• 4 (4) naan or chapati, to serve

Method

1. Sear the chicken. Heat the ghee or oil in a karahi or wide wok until shimmering. Add the chicken with the garlic and crushed ginger and fry on high heat for 6–8 minutes, turning, until the pieces are sealed and lightly coloured. The chicken is the Halal step that matters most: bone-in Halal-slaughtered chicken, or boneless thigh from the same source.
2. Cook down the tomatoes. Add the tomatoes and salt. Cover for 5 minutes until the skins loosen, then pull the skins out with tongs. Keep cooking uncovered on high heat, stirring and pressing the tomatoes into the chicken, for 12–15 minutes until they have broken down into a thick sauce and the chicken is cooked through.
3. Spice and bhuna. Add the chilli flakes, crushed coriander, cumin and black pepper. Stir-fry (bhuna) for 3–4 minutes until the oil separates at the edges of the pan. For a Lahori karahi, lower the heat, stir in the whisked yogurt and cook 3 minutes more until glossy.
4. Finish in the pan. Scatter over the green chillies and ginger matchsticks, cover for 1 minute, then add garam masala and coriander. Serve straight from the karahi with naan. Shop naan is usually flour, yeast and yogurt; some add dairy emulsifiers, so read the pack.

Allergens

milk (if using ghee or yogurt)

How this recipe was researched

Method specified editorially from Pakistani karahi technique (bone-in chicken seared in a wok-shaped karahi, tomatoes cooked down in the same pan, finished with ginger, green chilli and black pepper) and this site's Chicken and Ghee pages. Timings follow published technique rather than a kitchen test.

Photograph of chicken karahi from Wikimedia Commons, not the finished dish from this recipe.