Name: Chicken and Chickpea Curry Karahi
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Indian/Pakistani
Ingredients: 250g (9 oz) dried chickpeas soaked in water overnight or 4 x tinned (canned) chickpeas (garbonzo beans); 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (optional); 125ml (1/2 cup) ghee; 1 tsp black peppercorns; 6 green cardamom pods, lightly crushed; 1 x 5cm (2 inch) cinnamon stick; 1 tbsp cumin seeds; 3 cloves; 2 medium red onions, finely chopped; 2 tbsp garlic and ginger paste; 3 medium tomatoes, halved; 1 tbsp red chilli flakes; 2 tsp ground cumin; 1 tbsp ground coriander; ½ tsp ground turmeric; 600g Chicken thighs, on the bone and cut into three pieces

Jump to Recipe

Cooked in a karahi, this chicken and chickpea curry is hugely popular and easy to prepare.

This chicken and chickpea curry is cooked over a high heat in a karahi. The high heat cooking give the curry a delicious and smoky flavour. This is one you’ve simply got to try soon.

You will also find links to some of the most popular side dishes to enjoy with your chicken and chickpea karahi.

Make this today!

What is karahi cooking?

A karahi is a pan that is similar to a wok but usually has not handles or two. The rounded base maked it possible to cook over a high heat while stirring it all together to make a delicious sauce.

Cooking chicken and chickpea curry like this build flavour, with results that are far better than simply stewing the ingredients.

You might also like to try some other karahi style curries. I have the recipes for you. Try butter chicken karahi, black pepper chicken karahi, chicken bhuna karahi, white chicken karahi and chicken keema karahi to start! All of these curries can be served together with the chicken and chickpea curry as part of a big meal.

What do you serve chicken and chickpea karahi with?

If you’d like to make this curry into a feast, you’ve come to the right place. You could just go for a side of Basmati rice or mushroom fried rice.

If you’d like to make naans, why not try one of these? Instant naans, Peshwari naans, stove top naans, keema naans, garlic naans, tandoor naans (if you have a tandoor oven), or if you’re cooking outdoors, karahi naans. Oh, and really easy but just as delicious are homemade chapatis.

Want to start your chicken and chickpea karahi meal off with a bang? How about fried shop bought poppadoms or if you’re feeling ambitious, make your own poppadoms from scratch and serve them with coriander chutney, red onion chutney, and/or tamarind chutney.

Dried vs tinned (canned) chickpeas

Although not necessary, you will get better results if you used dried chickpeas (chana) and cook them until tender. The texture is better to what you get in a can and you can use the cooking liquid to help flavour the curry.

That said, tinned (canned) chickpeas will work perfectly well and you will be able to prepare this chicken and chickpea curry much faster.

Working ahead

If cooking dried chickpeas, you can do this up to three days before cooking the chicken and chickpea curry. Just cover the cooked chickpeas and place in the fridge.

You can also blend the chickpeas required for this recipe at the same time. The blended chickpeas are added to the curry to thicken the sauce.

What to serve with chicken and chickpea curry?

Although this karahi curry is amazing served over rice or with naans, there are a lot of carbs in the chickpeas.

You can therefore serve chicken and chickpea curry on it’s own with no sides!

Step by step photos of chicken and chickpea curry

Ingredients for chicken and chickpea curry

Get all of your ingredients together before you start cooking. It’s easier that way.

Blend half of the chickpeas to a thick paste and set aside for later.

Infuse the whole spices in the oil for about 40 seconds.

Add the chopped onions to the pan and fry until golden brown.

Add the chicken and fry until almost cooked through. Stir often and hard to coat.

Stirring in the garlic and ginger paste.

Stir in the garlic and ginger paste and continue stirring to coat.

Add the tomatoes. Cover the pan and simmer over a low to medium heat for 8 minutes.

Removing the tomato skins from the tomatoes.

Remove the skin from the tomatoes with tong. Squeeze the tomatoes as you do.

Over a high heat, continue stirring and breaking the sauce down. Then add the ground spices.

The tomatoes will all melt into the sauce and it will look something like this.

Add the chickpeas and a little water and continue stirring. I add about 250ml (1 cup) water or the cooking liquid from cooking the chickpeas.

Add the chickpea paste. The sauce will become much thicker. If it is too thick for your liking, add more water.

The finished chicken and chickpea curry.

Continue simmering until you have a nice thick sauce, perfect for picking up with naans or chapattis. The ghee or oil will rise to the top when the curry is finished cooking.

Chicken and chickpea curry garnished with lemon, chillies, coriander (cilantro) and julienned ginger.

Serve garnished with julienned ginger, chillies, lemon and coriander (cilantro).

Yield: 4