Pakistan – Mutton Dhabba Karahi

by Dahiza Umar

INTRODUCTION TO THE DISH

This dish is a very delicious meat dish that is cooked with any meat and even with vegetables. This is special gravy or masala that is cooked mixing onions, tomatoes, garlic ginger paste with oil and cook until they convert into mash form or gravy-like texture. This is a quick recipe if you are using the easy meat, chicken. Mutton is tough meat to tender, but the only tenderization required time. The masala is cooked easily, and the special ingredients are butter and Pakistani spices. There is a huge number of karahi dishes cooked in different styles by adding different ingredients. This is also special due to the technique: high flame and the cooking wok. This dish is also cooked by adding meat with vegetables. Like mutton potato karahi is very famous in Pakistan. Capsicum chicken karahi is also a version of this dish.

Every dish has the basic version, you can then make it turn upon your cooking skills. The wok used in making this dish is also known as KARAHI. The cooking utensil and dish are known as Karahi. This is served with Pakistani bread like roti, naan and also with rice.

A similar dish with a different cooking pot and slightly different cooking technique is known as HANDI. This is usually a clay pot with a depth and closed mouth. All the ingredients are added at the same time, cooked by adding spices and water. Then oil, butter, or ghee is added to make it fried. This technique is very easy and less time-consuming as compared to any other dish in which each ingredient is cooked separately.

This is a spicy gravy of meat like mutton and chicken with some garnishing of coriander leaves, green chilies, ginger slices, and mint leaves, etc looks very delicious and appetizing. In some areas like Punjab, this is served by adding extra butter to this dish and the use of DESI GHEE, is also very important in the region of Punjab, which is made of pure milk and butter. Punjabi people admire the addition of extra butter to their dishes, even they use butter in making bread and rice as well. The use of pure clarified butter which is also known as Desi Ghee in their dishes makes them more aromatic and healthy.

KARAHI is popular in different regions of Asia are given below

• Indian Sub-continent
• Pakistan
• Central Asia
• South Asia
• India
• Bangladesh
• Afghanistan

DIFFERENT VARIETIES OF KARAHI IN PAKISTAN

• Chicken Karahi
• Lahori Mutton karahi
• Lamb karahi
• Beef karahi
• Vegetable karahi
• Dhaba Karahi
• White masala karahi
• Makhani Karahi
• Peshwari Karahi (One of the city of Pakistan: Peshawar)
• Dhaba style beef karahi
• Balti Karahi
• Green chili karahi
• Mughlai karahi, etc.

WHAT IS KARAHI?

Traditionally Karahi is a clay pot usually found in rural areas for regular cooking. But in cities when some traditional dish has to cook, the clay pot is used otherwise we have steel pots. Metal pots, copper is also used for preparing cooking wok in karahi style. The shape of the Karahi pot is wide and open from the mouth. It is thick and heavy, round in shape, and deep for preparing large quantities.

Karahi is also used in deep frying snacks and fried chicken. It is also used in making different simmering stews and soups. This is deep for we can cook large quantity. This is open without any lid so cooking is done by open frying and high flame cooking.

The stainless steel, copper, non-stick wok is also prepared by using the same style. It cooking utensil is used in many national cuisines, Pakistani cuisine, Indian cuisine, Bangladeshi cuisine, and also Nepalese cuisine. An inverted karahi is also used to make slim and thin romali roti.

PUNJABI CUISINE

Punjabi cuisine is very famous among other cuisines of Pakistan. This is very famous because of using the cooking skills and moreover the cooking ingredients that are fresh. In Punjabi cuisine, the use of fat in the form of butter, milk, ghee is very famous. Dishes are also cooked in humongous amounts and served with different complementary items especially drinks like lassi.

In Punjab, the homemade stove is prepared with clay and then the tandoor that is the oven is burned by using woods and coal. This is the thing that gives a very nice taste to any dish. The taste of dishes cooked over the clay stove and by woods are totally different if you are using same ingredients and the same cooking method. The bread is served with any curry and the gravy dish is cooked over the tandoor with open fire by coal. This is very tasty bread and is loved by Punjabi people with any other dish.

HISTORY OF THE DISH

This dish is originated from the region of the Indian subcontinent at the time of the Mughals. It came into existence from that time when cooks of the king makes different dishes to impress the king of that time. Mughals are the Royal king of the time, they use the dried fruits in the dish like almonds, walnuts, and coconut to make it even more delicious. Karahi was cooked at that time by adding different nuts for amazing taste. Nuts are considered royal ingredients.

STREET FOOD OF PAKISTAN

Street food of Pakistan is very famous because it is less costly and taste amazing. This is very common to serve Chicken Karahi as the street food selling by hawkers. Hawkers used to give a plate of chicken karahi with salad, mind raita, and roti. This is considered as the whole meal at the lunchtime. Only chicken is used in street food mostly because this meat is easily available and also loved by Pakistani people.

People of the middle class and even also high-class people love to eat street food. Students, office boys, and drivers used to eat this food at the roadside by hawker’s stall.

PLACE OF ORIGIN

The place of origin of the dish is ”Indian Subcontinent”

CONDIMENTS SERVED ON THE TOP OF KARAHI

GREEN CHILIES

These are the condiments served over every curry and gravy in Pakistan. Green chilies are favorites of any gravy and curry. They are served over the top as the garnish and also as the spicy element to the dish. There are different forms of green chilies served as the condiment in many dishes.

• Whole green chilies
• Pickled green chilies
• Long slices of green chilies
• Julienne cut green chilies

GREEN CORINADER LEAVES

Green coriander leaves are also a very important part of any dish even meat and vegetables. These green coriander leaves are also added as the main element to the dish. Green leaves of fresh coriander are very amazing when served over the cooked curry to make it greener and nicely colored.

OTHER CONDIMENTS

• Ginger slices
• Lemon slices
• Mint leaves

COMPLEMENTARY SIDE SERVINGS

There are some sauces and salads served with mutton karahi and any other curry to enhance the taste and flavors :

SAUCES

• Podina yogurt
• Zeera yogurt
• Lauki ka raita
• Mint sauce
• Tomato raita
• Green chili sauce
• Bundi ka riata

SALADS

• Onions rings
• Cucumber
• Kachumbar salads
• Green salads
• Beans salad
• Mixed vegetable salad

ROTI AND NAAN

• Roti
• Roghani naan
• Khameeri roti
• Khameeri naan
• Kulcha
• Sada naan
• Butter naan
• Sada roti, etc.

TIME REQUIRED

• Preparation time : 20 minutes
• Cooking time : 40 minutes
• Total time : 1 hour

NUTRITIONAL ASPECTS

• Calories : 330
• Carbohydrates : 25 grams
• Fats : 33 grams
• Protein : 40 grams
• Fiber : 10 grams

INGREDIENTS OF DISH

• Mutton : 1 kilogram
• Onions : 2 large
• Tomatoes : 4 large
• Garlic paste : 6 tbsp
• Ginger paste : 6 tbsp
• Green chilies paste : 6 tbsp
• Salt : 2 tbsp
• Red chili powder : 2 tbsp
• Turmeric powder : 1 tsp
• Cumin powder : 1 tbsp
• Coriander powder : 1 tbsp
• Oil : 1 cup
• Yogurt : 2 cups
• Cream : 1/2 cup
• Cinnamin stick : 2
• Cloves : 4
• Cardamon : 2

CONDIMENTS

• Lemon : 2
• Green chilies : 4 thinly cut
• Green coriander : 2 tbsp
• Mint leaves : 2 tbsp

COOKING METHOD

• To tender the meat we have to boil it in water with some spices. In a cooking pot, add 1.5 liter of water with salt, cloves, cardamon and cinnamon stick and meat in it. Bring it to boil and then cook it for 30 minutes on low flame.
• Now on the other pot, add oil and onions in it, make it sauteed.
• When onions are translucent, add garlic ginger paste into it and turn high the flame for nice brown color.
• The color of onions and ginger, garlic paste changed, add tomatoes and low down the flame so the water of tomatoes released.
• Now add 1 cup pf water into onion mixture, with the dry spices like salt, chili, turmeirc, etc.
• Leave this mixture to cook over the low flame for 15 minutes, meanwhile mutton is cooked.
• Stain the mutton and restore the stock into other jar for further use.
• Now the mixture of onions and tomatoes are soften, add cooked mutton into it and fry whole things together for 15 minutes.
• When mutton has changed its colors add 2 cups of mutton stock with yogurt and cook it for getting the gravy of appropriate consistency.
• Mils thick consistency is appeared, serve it by adding lemon, mint, coriander over it.
• Enjoy it with roti and naan