This EASY four step Chicken Ginger that was my first recipe to go viral has two unusual ingredients that create the most irresistible masala! Try it for yourself and see why so many people are still making it all the time!
I am not one to brag, but Pakistani Chicken Recipes are kinda my thing. Chicken is a crowd pleasing protein, cooks quickly and with the right techniques and spices it is SO flavorful. Dishes like this Chicken Pulao or this Instant Pot Chicken Dal Gosht and this Chicken Ginger have saved me on many busy nights. I am a mother of two girls with very busy schedules so busy nights are kinda the norm around here.
What is Chicken Ginger?
Before anything let's make one thing clear:
If you put julienned ginger on your Chicken Karahi, it is still Chicken Karahi. Chicken Ginger is assertively ginger-y, has a generous amount of pepper, and a gravy that is richer and more assertive than the cleaner tasting Karahi Chicken or the onion based Chicken Masala.
Usmania's Chicken Ginger
This recipe for Chicken Ginger comes to me from a scanned newspaper clipping I found on the web a long time ago. It claims to be a copycat of the famous Chicken Ginger from Usmania which is one of Karachi's older family restaurants. Whenever our family went - usually with a large group of people - this Chicken Ginger is what everyone reached for first.
I have not been to Usmania in a long time now, but I still think fondly of those happy times. Companionable laughter in the background as I scoop up the chicken ginger with some hot naan straight into my mouth and relish the pungent taste of the fiery tomato based masala. This recipe brings back all those feelings and for that I will continue to make it over and over again.
Odd Ingredients Make this Dish
Some of the ingredients, namely the soy sauce and ketchup, are admittedly a little odd. However when I skip them this dish seems incomplete so please try not to. Also please note that when I say tablespoon of ketchup, I mean AN ACTUAL TBSP!
If you use a heaping amount of the spoon you use for eating or serving food you will end up with too much. Don't feel like busting out the measuring spoons? Start with the teaspoon in your kitchen drawer, the kind you use for stirring your tea/coffee and add more if needed.
Step By Step Chicken Ginger Recipe
This is such a simple recipe that I am a little embarrassed to have made this Step by Step graphic, but let's break it down anyway shall we?
Remember: if you don't want your yoghurt to split then whip your yoghurt and put it near the stove before you start cooking. It is the temperature differential that makes your yoghurt split so add a little masala into your yoghurt, mix it well to make the yoghurt warmer, and then slowly stir it all into the chicken ginger.
What goes with Chicken Ginger?
I got you.
More Weeknight Chicken
Like I said no boring chicken here!
Made this recipe? Don't forget to rate it by clicking on the ratings below and tagging me in your delicious creations on instagram! You can find me @flourandspiceblog 🙂
Chicken Ginger
Ingredients
- 1 lb boneless chicken use more for bone in
- 3-4 Tomatoes chopped
- 1 heaped tsp ginger paste
- 1 heaped tsp garlic paste
- 1 heaped tsp red chilli powder
- ¾ - 1 tsp salt start w ¾
- 1 tsp black pepper
- ¼ tsp Turmeric
- ½ tsp Coriander Powder
- ½ tsp Soy Sauce
- ¼ cup oil
- 2 tbsp butter
- 3-4 sliced Green Chillies
- ¼ cup julienned ginger - approx 2 inch piece
- 1 tbsp ketchup
- ½ tsp Garam Masala
- ⅓ cup yogurt
- Cilantro for garnish optional
Instructions
- Slice your chicken into 1 inch strips and set aside
- Now whisk your yogurt and leave it out near the stove to come to room temperature.
- Put a wok on high heat
- Add your chicken, ginger paste, garlic paste, and tomatoes to the pan
- Cook until the water dries up and the chicken is cooked through
- Then add the soy sauce, salt, red chillies, black pepper, coriander powder, turmeric, butter, and oil
- Cook until the masala turns out a bright red hue and the oil rises above it.
- Now gently mix in the yoghurt, green chillies, ketchup, chopped ginger (reserving some for garnish) and garam masala.
- Reduce the heat to low and cook covered for 3-5 minutes.
- Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. Serve with hot naan or roti
Video
Notes
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Carrie says
Happy (belated) Independence Day! Looks delicious - I love ginger so much. And I bet the secret ingredients give it that je ne sais quoi 🙂
sarahjmir says
hhaha Carrie you are exactly right 🙂
Amira says
This looks so lovely and tempting to try. Mentioning good old times always bring tears to my eyes, so I can very much relate to what you feel. What really breaks my heart is that mu kids will not share the same memories and experiences as I am, but anyways they sure will have their own.
sarahjmir says
I hear you Amira, I feel some things will be so utterly foreign (no pun intended) for my kids. They will never get the joys of playing in monsoon rains and then coming inside for garam pakoras but I try my best to create other memories similar to those ones ... of course then people think I am crazy for letting my daughter get wet in the rain!
Salma says
I don't think I've ever said this before, but that chicken looks beautiful!
sarahjmir says
haha thanks Salma!
Chitra Jagadish says
Lovely captures Sarah , well can't say anything about dish as I don't eat chicken....well said about the great day and memories are what remains throughout.....happy independence day (belated) to you my friend...
sarahjmir says
Thank you Chitra - I have some vegetarian things in the pipeline, hopefully you will like those 🙂
Sadaf F K. says
Perfect recipe for Azaadi. I can feel you Sarah how it feel to be far away from the land where we grow up. I do badly miss my old city at every Occasions to count. Your chicken look tempting, I've never been to usmania. Where's it btw?
sarahjmir says
There are two I believe, the one I have been to is close to China Town in Clifton. One day we should get together and celebrate 🙂
Farah.F says
Looks delicious. Will be trying it out soon 🙂
sarahjmir says
Keep me posted - always love feedback!
Hiba says
I tried this recipe but it tasted too ketchup-y to me and not gingery. I ended up having to add more madalas and red onion to mask the ketchup flavor.
Sarah Mir says
Hi hiba! I am genuinely surprised to hear that - a tbsp in a measuring spoon is like a heaped tsp from the utensil drawer so the ketchup flavour shouldn't be strong at all! It just adds a mellowness to it
Deepa says
Yum.....I LOVE ginger so this is perfect for me! Yes, food is a good start to having pride in one's heritage 🙂
sarahjmir says
It also doesn't hurt that I have two girls and glittery clothes on my side 🙂 not to mention the jewellery hehe
spiceinthecity says
The dish looks delicious, hope you had a lovely independence day celebration 🙂
sarahjmir says
Thank you!
Mariam Ghaznavi says
Tried this recipe on a whim and it came together so easily! And the best part was it got whipped out at dinner time!
Thank you!
Sarah Mir says
SO glad you enjoyed it Mariam!
My Kitchen Moments says
I do not eat chicken. So i missed this post of yours!! 🙁 My bad! But just now read through and i agree, the memories associated with celebrating Independence day is so special! (Belated) Happy Independence Day to you too my Pakistani blogger friend 🙂
sarahjmir says
Thank you for coming by and your kind words 🙂 I love that our blogs bring us all together in one way or another!
MyNinjaNaan says
Sarahhhhhhhh! LOL at the "burger"! I also didn't know what a burger was until I got married hehe.
Sooo this looks flipping phenomenal and I cannot wait to try this! Also, have you been to the Usmania is Chicago? They have this amazing dish called Frontier Chicken and Frontier Chicken Rice. I've been trying to hunt down a recipe for ages, but can never seem to find it. Do you think you can come up with a copycat? 😉
sarahjmir says
frontier who what where?!?! no I haven't. like most decent Karachiites I use all my Chicago eating out on Sabri Nihari. lol jk I didn't know there was an Usmania there!
Amna S says
Sabri Nihari has a frontier chicken, as well! Usmania's is better...you can actually taste the flavors instead of just spiciness. I found my way to your blog because I was looking up a copycat frontier chicken recipe like how Usmania does it. None of the very few recipes online are at all similar to it. 🙁
sarahjmir says
well I am glad you came here, even if by mistake hehe I am off to Karachi in a few weeks and I will try this frontier chicken and get back to you!
radhikasethi says
Happy Independence Day Sarah. Ginger chicken looks smashing. Hope you're having a good time 🙂
sarahjmir says
Thank you!!!
Sana says
Just made this tonight... Absolutely scrumptious!!!
sarahjmir@gmail.com says
wonderful thank you so so much!!!!
Anjana @ At The Corner Of Happy & Harried says
Happy Independence Day, Sarah! And what a lovely way to celebrate 🙂
sarahjmir says
Thanks Anjana 🙂
Zeenat Aftab says
Hi Sarah! Thanks for sharing this awesome recipe! I tried this tonight and I feel like I ended up with a little too much 'sauce' towards the end. Maybe I should reduce the amount of yogurt in the last step? Wanting my chicken to look more on the dry end like your picture but ended up much saucier. Any recommendations?
sarahjmir@gmail.com says
Hi Zeenat!!! Thanks so much for trying the recipe and taking the time to share your feedback! You've totally hit the nail on the head that if you want a drier dish you're good with half the yogurt, i.e. a quarter cup! I am positive I used the half cup when I photographed it but I suspect that a lot of the masala settled to the bottom of the dish!
mysimpledelights says
Looks amazing!!! Love all the flavours and ingredients!!?❤️
sarahjmir says
Thanks Farianti!
Asiya @ Chocolate & Chillies says
OMG...for even the most "Burger" of us 🙂 I never knew of the term "burger" until I got married....I thought it was hilarious...
I have a recipe for ginger chicken which is okay. For some reason when my mom makes the same recipe it turns out awesome. I'm going to try your version soon. I wasn't using ketchup or soy sauce so that is probably where I was going wrong.
sarahjmir says
hahaha I was actually going to go into the burger vs bun kabab thing (I am clearly a bun kabab in a burger world lol) but decided to skip it.
the original recipe calls for ajinomoto but I find soy sauce works well. let me know how it goes
Asiya @ Chocolate & Chillies says
What is bun kabob??? My husband always talks about it...is it just a burger???
sarahjmir says
Asiya it is essentially a burger with more desi condiments - hari chutney, imli ki chutney etc. You get two kinds - one made with a meat kabab in the chapli or shami style and another made with chana daal cooked and made into patties. Ever since I had typhoid in my teens there was an embargo on my street food consumption so I actually haven't had one in aeons
forgetherest says
Do you think this could be done with shrimp?
sarahjmir says
That would be delicious - I would cook it a little differently though just because shrimp overcooks so quickly. Here's how (I think) - season the shrimp w salt and a pinch of turmeric and then when the masala is cooked all the way through add the shrimp with the ginger, yoghurt, etc. Let me know if you give it a shot!
Shabibi Khan says
OMG this was absolutely delicious. I preferred to use bone in chicken. The flavour was spot on with the perfect amount of heat.
and spices. Normally I wouldn't add tomatoes and yogurt but this combo worked perfectly.
It's definitely one of my go to recipes