Hello Alt Muslimah Readers!
Rehana here again from RehanaDuJour.com! I am happy to be back to share one of my mom’s best dishes – this easy chicken karahi. Now, I am not going to pretend that all my recipes are my own – they are great because they are my mother’s recipes and she is an EXCELLENT cook. I like to think it’s where I get it from.
Today, I am going to be sharing how to make chicken karahi. Chicken karahi is a Pakistani and North Indian chicken dish. Karahi is the name of the wok-style pan that this dish is traditionally made in. It takes a few fresh ingredients and some quick chopping, but once everything is done, it cooks fairly quickly. Your family will love this dish as much as mine, hopefully!
First, you’ll need to prepare one skinless chicken cut into 8-10 pieces. Pakistani’s generally cook with skinless chicken so that is what I will be using today. I don’t mind cooking with chicken without cleaning it because I know and trust the butchers that I buy my chicken from and I feel like sometimes the cleaning process gets chicken water unnecessarily over the kitchen sink, counter, and your clothes. But, if you are not comfortable with cooking your chicken without cleaning it I suggest rinsing it in water, diluting it with one or two tablespoons of white vinegar in a bowl of water and swishing the chicken in it and then draining. The only thing after this would be to bleach everything the chicken touched – sink, colander, and bowls. Salmonella is no joke, so please be very, very careful when handling raw meat. Cross contamination is no joke and a little extra precaution when washing up is necessary. This is the end of my rant…
Also, to clean cilantro, the best way is to submerge it into a bowl of water and let the sand and dirt settle to the bottom and thens scoop the leaves and stems (they’re equally tasty – so don’t throw them out) for use in your recipes.
Now, we’ll prepare the ingredients for the karahi.
You’ll need to dice two tomatoes, chop up two small or one medium onion, dice up two green bell peppers, chop two to three green chiles (depending on how hot you like your food), chop four to five cloves of garlic, three tablespoons of chopped cilantro, and a two inch piece of fresh ginger into small batons. Don’t know how to slice up ginger? Let me show you!
First, clean and peel a two inch piece of ginger.
Next, cut the ginger in half.
Slice these pieces of ginger into 1 cm sheets.
Next, cut these ginger sheets into small thin strips. The smell of fresh cut ginger is amazing. You could even use ginger coins in hot tea for some soothing ginger tea – perfect for a sore throat!
Now, with all you’re ingredients prepped, you’re ready to cook!
First, you’ll want to put 3 tablespoons of a light flavorless oil (vegetable or canola) in a high-sided wok on medium-high heat. Add the chicken in the wok and fry it on it’s own till it’s browned and cooked.
While the chicken is cooking, you’ll want to cook the vegetables in a nonstick pan on a different burner. Add one tablespoon of oil into a pan on medium-high heat and add all the vegetables, reserving some chopped cilantro and ginger strips for garnishing.
Add two teaspoons of kosher salt (remember this is the salt for the entire dish), 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric, and 1/2 teaspoon of red chili powder (or more depending on how spicy you want the dish) into the vegetable mixture.
Cook this for 5-7 minutes or until it is a little cooked, but not fully softened. All this time, the chicken will be frying up. I just love when things are perfectly coordinated, don’t you? After the chicken is browned and cooked, you’ll want to add the vegetable mixture to the chicken mixture.
Stir the mixture together.
Cover and steam the chicken for another 10 minutes on medium low heat or until the chicken is soft and fully cooked.
After 10 minutes, check for seasoning and garnish with the reserved chopped cilantro and chopped ginger and serve with your favorite naan!
And that’s all there is to it!
I hope you guys try out this recipe! Please send me pictures of the dish if you do! I can be found on Twitter at Rehanana and on Instagram at RehanaDuJour.
Happy cooking!
Xo,
Rehana
www.RehanaDuJour.com
- 1 skinless chicken cut into 8-10 pieces
- 3 tablespoons of chopped cilantro, some reserved for garnish
- 2 medium tomatoes, diced
- 2 small or one medium onion, chopped
- 2 green bell peppers, diced
- 2-3 green chiles, chopped
- 4-5 garlic cloves, chopped
- 2 inch piece of ginger, sliced into small batons, some reserved for garnish
- 2 teaspoons of kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- 1/2 teaspoon red chili powder
- 4 tablespoons of light, flavorless oil (vegetable or canola)
- Add 3 tablespoons of oil into a high-sided wok on medium high heat and fry the chicken pieces
- Add the tomatoes, onions, bell pepper, garlic, ginger, green chiles, cilantro, turmeric, salt, and red chili powder into a nonstick pan with 1 tablespoon of oil into a nonstick pan on medium high heat and cook for 5-7 minutes.
- After the chicken and vegetable mixture is cooked separately for 5-7 minutes, combine the mixture into the wok, cover, and cook on medium for 5-10 minutes or until the chicken is soft and fully cooked.
- Taste for salt, garnish with extra cilantro and ginger batons and serve!
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