The Ultimate Chicken Karahi

Put the oil and the chicken in the wok and shallow fry the chicken at very high heat. The chicken starts off pink. You’re done when all the chicken pieces turns white

Process Risk Management

1. Oil splattering and burning chef - use the splatter guard. Stick it over the wok.

2. Chicken getting burnt - Stir like crazy. Even with a non-stick wok, you need to keep the chicken in near constant motion.

3. Undercooking/overcooking - if you stir continuously, you will avoid overcooking some bits and undercooking other bits

Once the chicken is white, stick in the whole tomatoes - skin on and all. Add a couple of cups of boiling water, the salt and let the whole thing bubble away at a much more moderate heat than Step 1 - as if making a soup or a casserole. Now is a good time to add the frozen ginger and garlic cubes. You’re done when both of the following conditions are met: a) the tomatoes have turned to mush and b) the soupy water mixture that you started with has turned into more of a creamy paste. If b) happens before a), just add more boiling water

Process Risk Management

1. Oil splattering and burning chef - use the splatter guard. Stick it over the wok or you can even cover the work with a glass cover dish if it has one

2. Chicken or the paste getting burnt - At the beginning of the process, there will be more than enough water to prevent burning. As the water evaporates, get back into the stirring the chicken every minute or two.

3. Undercooking/overcooking - You need to make sure the tomatoes go totally mush. One way of knowing you are close is that the skin starts to come apart by itself. Some folks are known to take a prong and pick off the skin and bin it. It’s your call on that. Personally, I think the floating skin gives a nice colour to the finished article so I usually don’t bother removing it.

Finally dump in all the masalas. Add a final cup of water to make the paste a bit more watery. Turn the heat on high again and now stir fry on high heat again like crazy for the final ten minutes. If the paste gets too dry, add small quantities of boiling water. The thickness of a paste is a matter of personal taste but broadly speaking, it should be creamy and paste-like rather than watery and soup-like.

Process Risk Management

1. Oil splattering and burning chef - use can’t use the splatter guard because the wok needs to be continuously open at this point. Wear oven gloves if you mind the odd speck of hot oil landing on your hands or arms.

2. Chicken or the paste getting burnt - You can’t take your eyes off the wok in this last stage. You have to pretty much constantly stir the wok.

3. Undercooking/overcooking - The chicken will already be done by the time you get here. Mushing the tomatoes will have taken care of it. So, the only real issue at this stage is not to burn it - watch the wok like a hawk.