Karahi

A deep, steep-sided iron wok: balti, a dry curry, and the toss that keeps a karahi dish from becoming a stew.

Also called kadai, karai · From South Asia

A deep iron karahi with a dry spiced curry, two handles, and a wooden spoon.

The journey

Karahi and kadai are the same bowl under Pakistani and Indian names: steep sides, two handles, iron that can take a hard flame. The books name it when the dish is the pot — karahi gosht, a dry chicken, a balti that should reduce, not swim.

A wok is a cousin. A saucepan is not.

Public-domain botanical plate of bread wheat — the breads that scoop what a karahi reduces. — Franz Eugen Köhler, Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen (1887) · Public domain. Source

In the kitchen

Get it screaming, oil, aromatics, meat, and a lid only if you want steam. Finish dry enough that the sauce clings. Serve in the karahi.

The Indian and Pakistani volumes treat this pot as a restaurant hearth that also belongs at home.

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