Traditional chicken karahi: Pakistani chicken in the wok with tomato, ginger, green chili and cilantro

Karahi is the name of the pan, a round-bottomed iron wok, and of the dish made in it. On Pakistan's highways, the roadside restaurants between Lahore and Peshawar serve chicken karahi weighed by the kilo, cooked to order on the highest heat and brought to the table in the pan itself, with hot naan coming out of the tandoor.

What sets it apart from an ordinary curry is the absence of onion and liquid: the sauce is made only of tomatoes cooked on high heat until they break down and the chicken's own juices, concentrated until the oil separates. The seasoning is direct, ginger and garlic, toasted cumin and coriander, red chili and coarsely ground black pepper, and the finish is generous with raw julienned ginger, green chilies and fresh cilantro.

It is a quick dish of intense flavor, eaten with bread straight from the pan, tearing off pieces of naan to scoop up the chicken and sauce. A cucumber yogurt raita on the side balances the heat.

Recipe card

• Origin: Pakistan, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
• Category: Main course, wok chicken
• Difficulty: Easy
• Preparation time: 20 minutes
• Cooking time: 40 minutes
• Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1 kg chicken in small bone-in pieces (or boneless thighs in cubes)
• 6 ripe tomatoes, chopped (about 800 g)
• 1/3 cup oil or ghee
• 2 tablespoons ginger-garlic paste
• 1 piece of ginger, 5 cm, in very thin strips
• 4 long green chilies, halved
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 tablespoon coriander seeds, toasted and coarsely ground
• 1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon red chili flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 1 teaspoon kasuri methi (dried fenugreek, optional)
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• Salt to taste
• Naan or roti to serve

Method

1. Heat the oil in a wok or deep frying pan over high heat and fry the chicken with salt for 6 to 8 minutes, stirring, until browned outside.
2. Add the ginger-garlic paste and sauté for 1 minute.
3. Add the tomatoes, cover and cook on medium-high for 10 minutes, until they break down.
4. Uncover, add the cumin, ground coriander, black pepper, chili flakes and turmeric and cook on high, stirring, for 15 minutes, until the sauce thickens, darkens and the oil begins to separate at the edges.
5. Remove any tomato skins that rise, if you want a smoother sauce.
6. Add half the julienned ginger, the green chilies, garam masala and kasuri methi and cook for 5 minutes.
7. Taste for salt, turn off the heat and finish with the lemon, cilantro and the rest of the ginger on top.
8. Serve in the pan itself with hot naan.

Tips and variations

• Bone-in chicken gives more flavor to the sauce; boneless, reduce the time by 10 minutes.
• Flavorless tomatoes: add a spoon of tomato paste to compensate.
• White karahi swaps the tomato for yogurt and cream, and is milder.
• Mutton karahi, with goat or lamb, is the feast version, with 1 hour 30 minutes of cooking.
• High heat from start to finish is what gives the restaurant taste: do not cook on low.
• A spoon of whisked yogurt at the end makes the sauce creamier, though not traditional.
• Cucumber raita and sliced onion with lemon are the table accompaniments.

Chicken karahi is high heat, tomato, ginger and chili, no fuss, served in the pan. With a naan in hand, it is the fastest and tastiest dinner in Pakistan.