Chicken Nihari | Recipe

CHICKEN NIHARI RECIPE

Today I cooked Chicken Nihari which is a very famous dish in Pakistan and in the Muslim community. Last time I made Chicken Biryani inspired by some Pakistani series and Nihari happen to be the same. While doing research I found that Nihari is either Mutton or Beef. Chicken Nihari is not so famous as red meat but I don't eat beef. I prefer Chicken over Mutton so I decided to make Chicken  Nihari.

Before sharing the recipe I would like to tell you that in Chicken Nihari we don't need onions or tomatoes. Strange right! Generally in most of the chicken recipe onion and tomatoes are like mandatory but not in this case.

Chicken Nihari

Ingredients:

Chicken                             800gm

Ginger/garlic paste           2 tbs

Salt                                   as per taste

Turmeric powder              1/4 tbs

Red chili powder              1 tbs 

Oil                                    1/2 cup

Wheat flour                      1/2 cup

Garam Masala (We will prepare our own garam masala for this I will share ingredients) 

Cinnamon                          2 inch 

Black Cardamom               2

Cloves                                5/6

Cumin seeds                       quarter tbs

Fennel seeds                       1 tbs

Coriander seeds                  1 tbs

Bay leaves                          2

Black pepper                      10/12

Nutmeg                              1/4 th

Mice                                   1 flower

Star Anise                          1 

For Garnishing:

Coriander leaves       2 or 3 tbs

Ginger  (fine stripes) 1 tbs

Green chili                  1 (Finely chopped)

Recipe:

We need oil much more than in the regular chicken gravy. For those who cannot eat that much oil then you can remove excess oil after cooking chicken and spices in it.

1.  First of all heat a pan and pour half a cup of oil and let it heat. When the oil is hot enough add chicken pieces and let them cook until their color changes to golden on both sides.  It takes usually 10  to 15 minutes in high flame. Make sure chicken does not get burnt we need to stir at every 5 minutes.

Note: Chicken pieces should be big while making Nihari. Since we will be cooking it for about an hour or more depending on the amount of chicken.

2.  While chicken is being cooked we can prepare our garam masala. Roast all the spices mentioned above for 1 minute without oil in a pan and let them cool. Grind them and make a fine powder from the roasted masalas.

3.  After 15 minutes of cooking add ginger/garlic paste in the chicken and let it cook for 2 to 3 minutes. After that add all the dry spices such as salt, red chili powder, turmeric, ginger powder (if you have), garam masala. Add around half a cup of water immediately else the spices will burn.

4.  Cook all the spices for about 5 minutes and then add water about 4 to 5  cups. Or how much gravy you need and let the chicken cook for 35 to 40  minutes by covering the lid.

5. In the meantime make a thin solution of wheat flour with water. Remove all the lumps by continuous stirring.

6.  After 40 minutes chicken will become very soft and tender. Reduce the flame to low you can see all the oil floats on top of the gravy. With the help of a spatula take out oil in a bowl as much as you can before adding wheat solution to it.

7.  After removing oil from the gravy add wheat solution we made earlier. Stir it and let the gravy cook for 10 more minutes and then turn off the flame.

8. Add the oil we take out earlier, garnish it with coriander leaves, ginger stripes, and green chili.


I tried Chicken Nihari with rice and with Paratha. I like the combination of Paratha and Nihari. You can eat in a combination you like.


Enjoy homemade food.     Stay Safe.    Stay Healthy.

Chicken being fried

Spices