Karahi Chicken is spicy, smokey, and full of flavor. It can also be made at home. This Indian curry is a favorite family, thanks to its thick gravy, crunchy roasted onion, and capsicum.
We make chicken a star dish using almost the same ingredients as regular chicken curry. Karahi Chicken is a popular choice at nearly every restaurant. It’s consistently ranked #5 on our top-rated favorites. It’s a popular choice for a reason. This dish is an excellent choice for chicken curry that’s different.
This dish requires a lot of work and may feel long. It’s pretty simple if you take it step-by-step, as I have done for you. The entire process takes only 45 minutes, which is excellent if you want something unique.
Marinate Chicken This helps to tenderize the chicken and gives it a lot of flavors. I prefer ‘curry-cut’ chicken, a whole bird cut into 1.5-inch pieces. If you prefer, you can use just the thighs and drumsticks. I recommend bone-in chicken for best results because it keeps the chicken juicy.
Karahi Masala –Karahi Masala forms the basis of this recipe. We are using regular ground spices as well as fennel (saunf), cumin (jeera), peppercorns, kali mirch), coriander seed (dhania), and whole dried red chilies (khadi lel mirch). After drying the spices, they are roasted for about 2 minutes in a small pan until they release their oils. Once that happens, they are cooled and ground into a powder. This recipe yields approximately four tablespoons, and we use 2 1/2 tbsp. Rest can be frozen in an airtight container to be used in any curry for your next batch of karahi chicken or karahi paneer.
Roasted Onion Capsicum This is another step you can prepare and keep ready before starting to make the curry. I used whole onions, but you could also use whole shallots and onion petals. The entire onion, whole red chilies, and chopped capsicum are then roasted in ghee over high Heat until they start to char. Add this to the final stage for sweet, spicy, and smoky flavors. These are the ingredients that give Karahi chicken its distinctive flavor and aroma.
- Whole Spices Sauté whole spices in oil until the cumin (jeera) starts to splutter.
- Onions Heat onions until softened and translucent. They don’t need to be browned too much. We want them to soften.
- Ground Spices Add ground spices and ginger garlic paste. Stir fry the ingredients for 2-3 minutes.
- More Ginger Garlic. This dish is flavor-packed and should have intense flavors. To keep the flavor fresh and robust, we add extra ginger garlic at this stage.
- Tomato Puree – Tomato puree is fresh tomatoes mashed to paste. Fresh tomatoes are better than store-bought because they are tangier. Mix the tomato puree with the masala and continue cooking for a few more minutes until the oil separates from the sides. This is a sign that your masala has been cooked thoroughly.
- Dry Roast Chicken: Heat the oil and add the chicken. After that, heat the pan on high. Continue to stir the masala for 2 mins. This will seal in the flavors and cook the marinade.
- Cook: Add water to the pot and let it simmer for 25 minutes
- Onion Capsicum Final stretch. Combine the roasted onion, capsicum, and garam masala with kasurimethi. Mix well and continue cooking for another 5 to 7 minutes. This dish will be a hit with the smokiness of the roasted onions and capsicum.
- Serve. Add lots of chopped coriander and butter, and you’re ready to go!!
Karahi Chicken is best served with parathas or tandoori-rotis. The gravy is rich and thick, and the chicken stays tender and juicy. Because of their sweetness, the onions and capsicum bits help to cut through the spice.
At the end of the meal, I enjoy adding basmati to any masala or jeera to any dish. This is my favorite thing. It makes a fantastic meal, no matter what you serve it with.
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients in the chicken marinade and marinate for at least 15 minutes.
- Dry roast the ingredients listed under Karahi masala on low Heat for 2 to 3 minutes until fragrant. Take care not to burn the spices. Cool the spices and then grind them to a fine powder.
- In a kadai, heat mustard oil and add whole spices (bay leaf and peppercorns, cinnamon, and jeera). After the jeera has spluttered, add the onions to the pan and cook for about a minute. Next, add the ginger garlic paste and turmeric powder.
- Salt, chopped garlic, and julienned ginger to the mixture and cook on high Heat for about a minute. Mix in the tomato puree. The tomato puree should be cooked for 2 minutes at high Heat until it leaves oil. Finally, add the marinated chicken.
- To roast the chicken, stir fry the chicken on high Heat for 2 to 3 minutes and then cook the curd.
- Cover with 1/2 to 3/4 cup water. Cook on low for 25 min.
- Heat ghee in another pan. Add whole red chilies and sambar onion to stir fry and cook for 2 minutes. Smokiness is added by high-heat cooking.
- After the chicken has simmered for 25 minutes, add the roasted onion and capsicum and mix well. Cook for 5 minutes more. Turn off the flame and add chopped coriander. Allow it to cool for 10 minutes before you serve.
