Peshawari Charsi Chicken Karahi

City of Peshawar has introduced so many of it’s incredible dishes to the country and to the world. The food from Khyber Pakhtoon Khwa is extremely unique and special in it’s own way… It is simple, cooked with minimum spices and presented in it’s purest form, without over the to garnish and without chutneys and condiments. Mostly the dishes hailing from there are meat based.. mutton, lamb or beef even the famous Charsi Karahi is actually a mutton dish but it evolved quickly and became a chicken dish too and almost all restaurants have this chicken version in their menu card.

Just like all Peshawari karahis, this one is quick and simple too and it is seasoned with salt and black pepper only, later finished with some chopped green chillies and sliced ginger but of course it has slightly different cooking steps which makes it special and stand out from other varieties of karahis.

• Firstly, chicken is lightly fried in oil which cooks the exposed surface area of the chicken meat and seals all the juices inside. The interesting part here is that the oil is salted first. Yes. While oil is heated over medium flame, salt is added to it first and then chicken is added to the wok/karahi. This is a unique twist to this particular karahi.
• Instead of adding ginger and garlic paste to the karahi, ginger and garlic are boiled in water and then that strained water is added to the karahi, discarding the ginger garlic remains. Another subtle but significant twist to this particular karahi.
• The karahi gets it’s base from blanched and skinless chopped tomatoes.
• Add either whole black pepper corn or slightly crushed for seasoning. I prefer slightly crushed black pepper for a uniform and “lifted” taste.

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Peshawari Charsi Chicken Karahi

Authentic taste of Charsi Chicken Karahi in easiest and quickest possible way.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Pakistani

Keyword Charsi Chicken karahi, Charsi karahi, Peshawari Charsi Chicken Karahi

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Servings 6

Author Heenie

Ingredients

• ½ cup cooking oil
• 1½ tsp salt
• 1 kg chicken, cut into 16 pieces
• 5-6 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 2-3 slices ginger
• 1 cup water
• 3 big tomatoes, blanched and skin remove *see notes
• ⅓ tsp whole black pepper corns
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 4-5 medium green chillies, chopped
• sliced ginger
• ½ tsp black pepper powder

Instructions

1. In a wok/karahi, heat oil over medium heat and add salt.

   

2. Add in chicken pieces.

   

3. Stir and fry till water from chicken is evaporated and it is no longer appears pink in color.

   

4. While chicken is cooking, put ginger and garlic in a small sauce pan and add water. Place over medium flame flame till it comes to a boil. Lower the flame and let it boil and soften for about 2 minutes.

   

5. Strain this ginger garlic water into the wok, discarding the remains of ginger and garlic.

   

6. Roughly chop blanched tomatoes.

   

7. Put black pepper corn in a mortar a crush slightly with pestle.

   

8. Add tomatoes and crushed pepper corns to the chicken.

   

9. Cover the wok with a lid, bring flame down to medium low and let tomatoes soften for about 4-5 minutes.

   

10. Take the lid off after 5 minutes and stir well. Keep stirring and cooking till enough water is evaporated. At this step, you get to choose the amount of gravy you like for the karahi. Add tomato puree and mix.

    

11. Add in chopped green chillies and ginger.

    

12. Mix well. Add in ground black pepper and switch the flame off. Give it a good stir.

    

13. Serve hot.

    

Recipe Notes

To blanch tomatoes, put them in boiling water for a minute and after a minute, throw away hot water and pour cold water over tomatoes. This will soften the skin and it will be easily peeled off.