Karahi, originating from Peshawar, Pakistan, is always a crowd-pleaser in all its varieties for every Afghani and Pakistani household. The rich thick texture of the gravy with the perfect blend of spices makes Karahi the ultimate Asian dish (after Biryani).

Originally the dish started with fresh cut mutton but later with the culinary advancement, other Pakistani cities came up with different varieties of it. Tikka Boti Karahi is one such variation made from boneless Chicken that is either cooked in a clay Oven or over BBQ and then combined in a stove-cooked gravy. Now don’t worry if you don’t have a clay oven or it’s not BBQ season. You can still make this dish! Just use your baking oven to cook the chicken or invest in a metal oven (modern electric Tandoor, very affordable and easy to use). I am going to use my metal oven.

Note: I guarantee you excellent results but you must use fresh ingredients when it comes to lemon juice, ginger paste, garlic paste and Garam Masala powder. You can make your ginger and garlic pastes beforehand and store them for a month in the fridge if you don’t want to make them fresh. Just please don’t use the store-bought ones. Same goes for the Garam Masala powder. You can make it beforehand and store it for up to 3 months in a dark, dry area. But as for the lemon juice, squeezing it on the same time doesn’t take much time or effort so please don’t use that ready-made bottled thingi. So let’s move to the recipe.

Ingredients:

For the chicken marination:
Boneless chicken: 1 kg
Lemon juice: 1 tablespoon
Ginger paste: 1 teaspoon
Garlic paste: 1 teaspoon
Green chili paste: 1 teaspoon
Yogurt, beaten: 1/2 cup
Red chili powder: 1/2 teaspoon
Roasted cumin powder: 1 teaspoon
Turmeric powder: 1/4 teaspoon
Salt: 1/2 teaspoon
Oil: 2 tablespoons

For the gravy:
Red onion, chopped: 2 medium
Ginger paste: 1 teaspoon
Garlic paste: 1 teaspoon
Tomato puree: 2 cups
Tomato paste: 1 tablespoon
Coriander powder: 1 tablespoon
Cumin powder: 1 teaspoon
Garam masala powder: 1 teaspoon
Red chili powder: 1/2 teaspoon
Coriander, chopped: 2 tablespoons
Salt: to taste
Heavy cream: 1 small can (160g)
Water: 2 cups (or more as required)
Oil: 1/4 cup

Method:

For the tikka boti, take a large bowl and mix together all the ingredients listed under ‘chicken marination’. Refrigerate this for at least 1 hour so that the chicken is well marinated.

Once the chicken is marinated, take it out of the fridge and set aside until you preheat your baking oven or metal oven (whatever you are using). Follow your regular procedure of cooking boneless chicken pieces if you are using a baking oven. If you are using a metal oven, follow the below instructions:

1. Preheat the oven for 2 minutes (metal oven Tandoor heats up real quick)
2. Grease the bottom of the oven and place the chicken pieces immediately (don’t grease before preheating, the oil will burn)
3. Change sides of the chicken after every 2 minutes in order to avoid burning
4. Note: There are usually two sections in a metal oven. The top one is a tray with holes in it for making bread. Remove this tray and use the bottom of the oven only. This is because the chicken will not cook from inside and burn from the outside due to excess heat.

Now once the chicken is cooked completely, set it aside and take another deep pan to make the gravy.

Add oil in a deep pan and add the chopped red onion. Saute the onions over high flame until they turn translucent. Add the ginger and garlic pastes, and cook them until the raw fragrance goes away. Reduce the flame to medium low and add the spices along with the tomato paste. Cook this for 5 minutes. You can add 3 tablespoons of water if you feel that the mixture is sticking to the bottom of the pan or burning.

Now add the tomato puree, chopped coriander and 2 cups of water. Cook for another 5 minutes. Add to it the prepared chicken and heavy cream. Cook for about 2 to 3 minutes by adjusting the consistency of your gravy. Just keep in mind that the gravy in this Karahi is not too dry like the other ones and not too runny.

Your dish is ready to be served hot with Naan and sliced red onion.