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Peshawari Karahi Recipe

پشاوری کڑاہی بنانے کا طریقہ

Namak Mandi style mutton karahi: meat seared in fat with salt, cooked in its own juices with whole tomatoes, finished with green chillies and black pepper.
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Illustration of Peshawari Karahi

Prep

10 min

Cook

1 hr

Total

1 hr 10 min

Serves

4

Difficulty

Medium

Spice

Mild

Peshawari karahi comes from the meat restaurants of Namak Mandi in Peshawar, where it is cooked to order in lamb fat in front of the customer. It uses almost no spices: salt, tomatoes, green chillies and black pepper. The flavour comes from good fatty meat, hard searing and letting the meat cook in its own juices, so it tastes of mutton rather than masala.

Ingredients

4 servings

For 4 servings

Measures

To finish

Method

  1. Heat the ghee or fat in a heavy karahi on high heat until very hot. Add the mutton and salt and sear, turning the pieces, until well browned on all sides.

    ⏱ 10 min

  2. Add the garlic if using and stir for a minute. Pour in the water, cover tightly and cook on low heat until the meat is tender. The meat cooks mostly in its own juices; add a few spoons of hot water only if the pan goes dry.

    ⏱ 35 min

  3. Push the meat to the sides and put the tomatoes in the middle. Cover and cook on medium heat until the tomato skins split and the flesh is soft.

    ⏱ 7 min

  4. Pull off the tomato skins with tongs and discard them. Turn the heat to high and mash the tomatoes into the meat with the spoon, stirring hard, until the masala is thick and the fat separates.

    ⏱ 8 min

  5. Add the green chillies, black pepper and ginger. Stir-fry for 2 minutes until the chillies just soften but stay green.

    ⏱ 2 min

  6. Taste for salt, scatter coriander if you like and serve in the karahi.

Tips for the best result

  • The fat matters more than anything else here. If you can get dumba (fat-tailed sheep) fat from the butcher, render 150 g of it in the karahi and use that instead of ghee.
  • Crush the black pepper yourself just before using. Ready ground pepper loses the sharp, fresh heat this karahi depends on.
  • The same method works with chicken: sear it, cook it covered for 15 minutes, then add the tomatoes.

Common mistakes

  • Adding red chilli powder, turmeric or garam masala out of habit. They hide the meat flavour and make it an ordinary karahi.
  • Using lean boneless meat. Without bones and fat the karahi tastes flat and the meat dries out.

How to serve

Serve straight from the karahi with hot tandoori naan, sliced onion, green chillies and a cup of green tea (qehwa) afterwards.

Storing and reheating

Best eaten fresh. Keeps 2 days in the fridge; the fat sets when cold, so reheat gently in a pan until it melts again.

Nutrition and cost

Worked out from the ingredients, not measured in a lab. Treat both as a rough guide.

Per serving Estimate

Calories
925kcal
Protein
43g
Fat
80g
Carbs
7g
Fibre
2.1g
Sodium
1030mg

Estimated from USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy (April 2018), public domain values for the raw ingredients (100% of the recipe by weight had data). Deep-frying oil is counted at 20%; bones and water lost in cooking are not subtracted, so bone-in and fried dishes can read high. Not medical advice. Method

Cost per servingEstimate

≈ Rs 620

Whole dish ≈ Rs 2,480 · 92% of ingredients by weight priced

From the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics weekly SPI, week ended 29 Oct 2026. Spices, herbs and some vegetables are not in the SPI and are left out unless you add your price, so the real cost is a little higher. How this works

Peshawari Karahi: questions people ask

What is the difference between Peshawari and Lahori karahi?

Peshawari karahi is cooked in fat with just salt, tomatoes, green chillies and black pepper. Lahori karahi adds red chilli, coriander, cumin and garam masala and is spicier and redder.

Is Peshawari karahi made with lamb or goat?

In Namak Mandi it is usually dumba (fat-tailed sheep) cooked in its own fat. At home goat meat works well with ghee.

Serve it with, and similar recipes

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Read this recipe in Urdu: پشاوری کڑاہی بنانے کا طریقہ

https://handi.danixsoft.com/recipes/peshawari-karahi · Handi, DanixSoft