Karahi vs Handi: Two Pots, Two Different Dishes

Karahi and handi are named after cookware, not recipes. A karahi is a wide, shallow steel wok. A handi is a deep, narrow, rounded pot, traditionally clay. Put the same chicken in each and you get two dishes that share almost nothing on the plate.

Karahi: wide pan, high heat, little gravy

The karahi has a large surface area, so liquid evaporates fast. That lets the cook work over a very high flame and reduce tomato to a thick coating in minutes rather than hours. A karahi is not a curry: it should cling to the meat, not pool around it.

The classic seasoning is deliberately short. Charsi karahi, the Peshawari style, is mutton, tomato, salt and green chilli cooked in the fat that renders out of the meat, with no onion and no ground masala at all. It tastes of the mutton because there is nothing else in the pan to hide behind.

Handi: deep pot, low heat, thick gravy

The handi is the opposite. Its narrow mouth traps steam, so the food cooks slowly in its own moisture. That suits cream, yoghurt and cashew, which would split over the flame a karahi needs. A handi comes out thick, mild and glossy, with enough gravy to spoon over rice.

This is why the butter and white cream-based dishes are always handi and never karahi. The pot is doing the work.

Side by side

• Karahi: shallow steel wok, very high heat, thick clinging masala, chilli-forward
• Handi: deep clay or metal pot, low heat and slow, generous creamy gravy, mild
• Karahi is eaten with naan, which you use to scrape the pan
• Handi is eaten with either naan or rice, because there is gravy to spare

What we charge for each

On the karahi side of our menu, Chicken Karahi is AED 29 for a half and AED 48 for a full, Mutton Karahi is AED 50 and AED 85, and both Charsi Mutton Karahi and Shinwari Karahi are AED 55 and AED 95. A full karahi feeds three to four people with bread.

On the handi side, Chicken Handi is AED 26, Butter Chicken Handi is AED 32 and Mutton Handi is AED 46. We also serve achari, jalfrezi, fish and white handi. Bread starts at AED 1.50 for a plain naan and AED 3 for butter naan.

Which to order for your table

If your table eats chilli and wants the meat to taste of itself, order a karahi, and order the charsi if you want the purest version of it. If there are children at the table, or anyone who would rather have something creamy over rice, order a handi.

For a group, one full karahi and one handi covers both preferences and still leaves room for a grill. Both also run on the dinner buffet at AED 42 on weeknights and AED 65 at weekends, which works out cheaper than ordering separately once you are more than two people. If heat is the concern, read how spicy Pakistani food actually is first.