Pakistan's most iconic restaurant dish—chicken cooked in a steel wok with tomatoes, ginger, green chilies, and whole spices until the oil separates into a glossy, intensely flavored sauce. Bold, fragrant, and unapologetically spiced.
Karahi takes its name from the heavy, rounded wok—the karahi—that is both cooking vessel and serving dish. Brought sizzling to the table still bubbling in its iron pan, chicken karahi is the centerpiece of Pakistani dining from Lahore's street restaurants to family Sunday lunches in Karachi. The technique is specific to the Pakistani kitchen: unlike other curries, karahi is cooked fast over high heat, the tomatoes reducing into a thick, concentrated paste around the chicken, the oil splitting and rising to the surface as a sign that the dish is ready. This separation of oil, called bhunna, is the cook's signal—it means the spices have bloomed, the water has cooked off, and the flavor is fully developed. In Pakistan, argument over whose karahi is best—Peshawar's milk-enriched version, Lahore's tomato-forward style, or Karachi's green chili explosion—is a national pastime.
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