Afghani-style mutton chop karhai with pepper, coriander and cumin

A commonplace dish on British menus is bhuna gosht, usually a dark brown mass of dryish cooked meat or vegetables. The real bhuna (which means ‘to fry’ in Urdu) is a cooking style found mainly in Pakistan, but it isn’t called bhuna gosht, you will normally find dishes resonant of this cooking style going by the name of handi or karhai. It is usually a thick tomato-based sauce, spicy, dry, and aromatic by cooking spices with garlic, ginger and sometimes onions, with the meat or vegetables cooked in their own juices resulting in deep strong flavours and little sauce. This is a recipe for an Afghani-style karhai found on the borders of Afghanistan and Pakistan, many of the migrants across the borders have contributed to making this style of cooking popular across the country. The key flavour comes from the unique freshly ground spices that go into this dish.