This Instant Pot Karahi has received rave reviews on my Instagram page and I'm excited to finally sit down and post this recipe.
How long do I need to pressure cook the chicken?
Only 6-7 minutes are needed to pressure cook chicken. I always set the pressure cooker to manual pressure on "high." You have to be mindful of the fact that pressure cooking, while expediting the cooking process of the chicken, does take away some of the flavor that the meat absorbs when slow cooking on the stove. So it is really important that you "bhoon" the masala really well in the beginning when you add the chicken to the curry as well as towards the end right before adding the yogurt.
My Karahi/Curries are always watery after releasing pressure. How can I get a rich thick gravy?
The Instant Pots cooks everything really fast which means you do not need to add in the same quantity of water that you typically add while cooking on the stove top. This is key to ensuring that you aren't left with a lot of water after releasing pressure. The biggest tip here is to add just enough water to keep things moist. I only add ¼ cup of water (sometimes ⅓ cup if my masala is too thick). Once you release pressure (I like to do a quick release if the mixture won't splatter), there will still be a bit of water left. This is okay because now we will be evaporating the water while "bhooning" the karahi. For this, I turn the "saute" mode on again and continue stirring until the water evaporates and the oil begins to separate.
My Popular Instant Pot Chicken Karahi
Equipment
- Instant Pot or Multi-Cooker
Ingredients
Instant pot Karahi
- ⅓ cup oil
- 1 onion chopped
- 2 tomatoes chopped
- 2 teaspoon ginger and garlic paste
- 1 lb chicken thighs boneless, skinless and chopped in medium boti chunks
- ¼ cup yogurt beaten
- ¼ cup water
Instant Pot Karahi Spice Blend
- ½ teaspoon black pepper powder
- 1 teaspoon Kasmiri red chili
- ⅓ teaspoon regular red chili
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon coriander seeds crushed
- ½ teaspoon fennel seeds crushed
- ¼ teaspoon cumin ground
- ½ teaspoon salt
Garnishes
- coriander leaves
- green chili
- ginger "julienned"
Instructions
- Combine the spice blend and set aside.
- In your Instant Pot, turn the "saute" mode on and heat up oil followed by onion.
- Fry onion until golden brown, then add tomatoes. You can either fry on "saute" mode until tomatoes break down or pressure cook on high for 2 minutes.
- Once tomatoes, break down, add the spices and chicken on "Saute" mode and continue to stir until chicken changes color. The stirring will also help seal the chicken with the spices.
- Add only ¼ cup of water to loosen the curry, give it a nice stir then pressure cook on "high" with the valve sealed for 5 minutes, then do quick release.
- Now on saute mode, allow the excess water to evaporate if there is any. You will notice the oil separate as you continue to bhoon the karahi.
- Once oil has separated, add in the beaten yogurt on "low" and let the curry simmer for 5-10 mins. Allow the oil to separate again at this point.
- Garnish with coriander, green chilis and julienned ginger and serve with Naan!
Mona Flirabotanica
I’m not a great cook and don’t even get great results by following recipes, hence I don’t enjoy being in the kitchen. I cooked this a few months ago and the family literally fell off their chairs! They wouldn’t believe I cooked it and thought I’d ordered in. It truly is divine. I’ve made it a couple of times now and plan to cook it again for guests this weekend. It’s my “signature” dish now, basically the only dish I’ve managed to master at coming up to 60 years of age 😬
Rookie With A Cookie
Wow this is such a huge compliment Mona. Thank you!
jab
It's tasty!
I"ll be added this to my rotation.
Did not add the 1/3 chili since it was already spicy for my kid. Next time, i'll only do 1/2 tsp kasmiri chili since 1tsp was a little unpleasant for him.
Added ginger and garlic when tomatoes were broken down. It would be great if you would update your recipe so people dont forget the garlic/ginger.
Deepak
We tried cooking last week for friends visiting, loved it absolutely. Cooked it again today (4 days later) and our friends also cooked the same back at their home and loved it absolutely. Now inspired to try few other recipes.
Rookie With A Cookie
Wow! Thanks so much for the review Deepak. So happy you and your friends enjoyed the recipe. I think you'll have fun recreating some of my other dishes. Can't wait for you to try them.
Rafay Seyal
This is a great recipe! I discovered some months back and made it once for my wife. She loooved it! She’s now asked me multiple time to make it again! In fact I’m making this for a small dinner party with her family visiting from Dubai tonight! Thank you and may Allah increase the baraka in your blessings!
Bibi
Love this recipe! So delicious! Thank you x
wendy c
Hi! I don't see where we are supposed to add ginger garlic pase
Rookie With A Cookie
you can add after chicken
Saba
BEST KARAHI EVER.
Genuinely this recipe is the reason I bought an instant pot just so I can make this all the time!! It’s sooooooo good. I’m an amateur cook but followed this recipe to the T and it turned out SO AMAZING. Extremely delicious!!!!
Rookie With A Cookie
Ahhh so happy to have influecned your decision to get an instant pot. Thank you for your review!
Anonymous
This receipe is finger licking good!!! Loved making and everyone loved eating it.