Some Like It Hot! Chicken Karahi, Fast, Spicy, and Totally Daring Brings The Heat.

   Chicken Karahi is a Pakistani dish from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region. Since then it's spread all over the world, and if you've ever tasted it you'll understand why it's so popular. It's a really simple karahi or kadhai dish, named after the wok-like pan it's cooked in.

   For starters, this recipe can be cooked exactly as it is with real chicken, but ever since I started buying that Daring Chicken stuff of Drakes, I'm hooked. When it went on sale briefly,the other day I stocked up. I really like this stuff, not to get all OCD about it, but I really really do. So I was looking for a tasty, spicy dish for the weekend when I have all the time in the world to cook, and I'd seen the recipe around lately and something clicked. And there was as I said a SALE, so why not cook this? On the plus side this is a really easy, and fast dish to make.  All you need is a few basics.

    We grow a lot of our own produce up here. I've got a whole variety of chilies out back, tomatoes,  and lemons. Just toss in some spices, and  "chicken" and a bit of either vegan or regular yogurt ,and that's all it takes. So here it is...,plain and simple.

Here's What You  Need:

1/4 cup of ghee or vegetable oil. (I use vegetable oil)

3 dried red chilies

1 tsp of garlic or shallot paste...or 1 tsp grated garlic or shallot. (I make a paste in a wet dry grinder using either and a bit of water to turn it into a paste)

1 tsp of ginger paste or grated fresh ginger (see above)

1 lb of Daring Plain Chicken pieces,  defrost them first (or skinless ,boneless chicken thighs but into pieces).

5 Thai green chilies. 2 of them finely chopped, three just split down the middle

1 tsp Kashmiri chili powder

1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/4 tsp ground turmeric

5 roma or vine tomatoes chopped.

1 tsp kosher salt

1/4 cup full fat greek , or vegan yogurt (room temperature)

2 Tbs lemon juice

1 tsp ground black pepper

1/4 tsp garam masala

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

A 2 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and julienned.

Here's What To Do:

Heat your oil or ghee in a kadhai, wok, or high-sided skillet over high heat.

When the oil is hot toss in the dried chilies and stir. Then add in the garlic or shallot, and ginger paste.

Now, add in the "chicken" pieces, stir them around.

And the finely chopped green chilies.

 Stir fry everything until the chicken is cooked through. This takes about 6 minutes.

Now turn down your heat to low, and add in the kashmiri chili, cumin, coriander and turmeric.

 Stir everything around for about 10 seconds making sure the spices are mixed in well.

Now add the chopped tomatoes and salt.

 Stir things up again, put a lid on the pan and let it simmer for about 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, take the lid off, turn the heat up and keep stirring until any liquid from the tomatoes and the chicken has cooked off. This takes between 5 to 10 minutes, so keep an eye on things.

Turn down your heat again, and before adding in the yogurt ,whisk it a bit. Add it into the pan slowly so as not to curdle. 

Now add in the 3 whole slit chilies, stir things around, put the lid back on turn the heat down to simmer, and cook for 5 minutes.

Take the lid off, and if the dish is too liquid, turn the heat up and reduce the sauce a bit.

When the sauce has thickened, turn off the heat. Add in the lemon juice...

 ...the Garam Masala and black pepper...

...the chopped cilantro...

...and the julienned ginger...

...and you're done!

 Serve it up, and enjoy!!! I served this with roti, or you can serve with rice, or both. If it's too hot  add a dollop of yogurt on top. But we like the heat around here.

   As I said, this is a spicy dish for chili lovers and can be made using real chicken too. Coming up next, playing around with more Indian treats and desserts. I'm staring at you aquafaba! We're warming up for Labor Day !

Follow along on twitter @kathygori because simple recipes drop all the time there.