National Dishes of the World

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Nihari
Photo: Nilanjan Sasmal, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

main dish

Nihari

نہاری (nihari)

Slow-cooked beef in a thick, warmly spiced gravy, traditionally eaten for breakfast with hot naan.

Eaten in: India, Pakistan

Prep
20 min
Cooking
4 h
Total
4 h 20 min
Servings
4

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About the dish

Nihari is a rich stew of beef or mutton, cooked for many hours, often overnight, until the meat falls apart at the touch of a spoon. Its name is traced to the Arabic word nahar, meaning day or morning, because it was once eaten straight after the dawn prayer – in Karachi, Lahore and Old Delhi many places still serve it from early morning. The gravy is thickened with toasted flour and seasoned with a blend of fennel, ginger, long pepper and cardamom. At the table everyone tops their bowl with ginger matchsticks, green chilli, coriander, fried onions and lime juice, and naan is used for scooping.

Main ingredients

  • beef
  • ghee
  • wheat flour
  • ginger
  • garlic
  • onion
  • nihari masala

India: In India, the nihari of Old Delhi and Lucknow is especially renowned.

More: Wikipedia (en)

Recipe

Nihari

https://foodmap.ominuvo.com/dish/nihari

Ingredients

4 servings

4 servings

Method

  1. Heat the ghee in a heavy pot and fry the onion until golden; set half aside for serving.

  2. Add the ginger-garlic paste and the meat and fry for 8–10 minutes until browned.

  3. Stir in the chilli, turmeric, masala and salt, fry for a minute, then pour in the hot water.

  4. Cover and simmer on the lowest heat for 3–4 hours (or about an hour in a pressure cooker) until the meat is very tender.

  5. Toast the flour in a dry pan until light brown, cool it and whisk with 200 ml cold water into a smooth slurry.

  6. Stir the slurry into the pot and simmer for another 20–30 minutes until the gravy thickens and a layer of spiced fat gathers on top.

  7. Serve in bowls with the ginger, chillies, coriander, fried onion and lime, and hot naan alongside.

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