This Chicken Karahi Keema is a more authentic, onion-less version of my other very popular Karahi Keema recipe. It's a firm favourite in my house, alongside my famous Chicken Karahi and Lamb Karahi.
Why is it revamped? Well, because this recipe is more of an authentic karahi recipe than the old one! Traditional karahi recipes are based entirely on garlic, ginger and tomatoes - they do not use onion. 'A South Asian dish with no onions! HOW?', you say? But trust me on this one, it WORKS!
Karahi dishes are also heavy on the tomatoes. To counterbalance the tomatoes, a lot of oil is needed to get that elusive oil separation that is characteristic of Pakistani curries. How much oil you use is largely your own personal preference - I used about half a cup here and still didn't manage to get much oil separation.
This chicken karahi keema recipe is a quick and easy dinner that almost feels too easy because I'm not spending ten minutes trying to chop onions without crying, then standing around frying them till golden. Less mess, one pot, what's not to love?
Enjoy, with love x
📋 Recipe
Chicken Karahi Keema - Stir-fried Minced Chicken in a Ginger and Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
- 10 cloves garlic minced
- 1 large chunk ginger minced
- 1 ⅓ lb (600 g) minced chicken
- 7 (800 g) tomatoes chopped
- salt to taste
- 1.5 teaspoon sugar or to taste
- 2 teaspoon red chilli powder or to taste
- 1.5 teaspoon coriander powder
- 1.5 teaspoon cumin powder
- 0.5 teaspoon nigella seed (kalonji)
- 3 green chillis
- coriander as needed
- oil as needed
Instructions
- Heat as much oil as you desire in a pan. Add the minced garlic and ginger and saute on high till become lightly golden. I was too lazy to mince my ginger and garlic, so I sliced it.
- Add the minced chicken. Saute on high till it no longer remains pink
- Add all the tomatoes, spices and green chillis, Continue to saute on high heat. The tomatoes will release a lot of moisture - we are aiming to dry all this moisture out. Stand close by and saute (bhoon) the mince till it dries out.
- Garnish with coriander, julienne cut ginger and green chilli and serve hot with chapatti
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amna
what does sugar do in this recipe ?
Fatima Cooks
Balances out all the tang from the tomatoes 🙂
Ali
Great recipes here. Many favorites that I make for family and when hosting. All are loved.
A request about the ingredients lists.
Can you specify a unit of measurement for ginger (tablespoons or something). A chunk and thumb sized are subjective and variable measures.
The Mrs. often has a choice remark about there being too little or too much ginger!
Fatima
Thank you so much, I’m happy to hear that!
And yes, you have a very valid point. I’ll definitely try to have a more objective measure for the ginger in future!
SojNiz
Hi fatima
I googled a chicken keema recipe by blessing of Allah subhana tallah, I got your recipe
It tasted awesome
Ramadan kareem
Naz Ejaz
Sorry I can’t see the quality of tomatoes in the ingredients list. How many do I need ?
Fatima
Hi there. You need 7 tomatoes
ali
Salams. Why is there no salt in this recipe?
Fatima
Wa alaikum assalaam. There is salt in the recipe, I must have missed it out when typing the recipe. Thanks for pointing it out
sarahjmir
looks awesome - just pinned this to try!!!