Lahori Chargha ~ Lahori Style Chicken Roast

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I never hinted on the blog that HD has a small restaurant that serves Pakistani food. It is close to our house. But no, I don’t get food from there all the time. He does tell me to order if I feel lazy but I try my maximum to keep it to bare minimum as possible. Also, I am not really keen in being known to his staff. Also clarifying, I have absolutely no involvement whatsoever in that business of his. 😀 The first time I had Lahori Chargha was when he bought a whole fried chicken as a tester when he hired a new cook. The man was quite old but he was really impressed with his cooking. The chicken he bought was amazing. Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, with generous sprinkle of chaat masala over it, it was amazing to dip it into the cumin raita that came along with it. Unfortunately, that man couldn’t be hired since his visa got rejected due to medical issues. But the taste of his Chargha lingered in my mouth.

Chargha just means “chicken”. The chicken is marinated is some spices plus chaat masala as long as you can. Traditionally, it is steamed till almost done and then deep fried, so the appearance would be different that what you see in the picture. It would have a dark brown crisp top and a soft chewy inside. I choose to directly make it in my air fryer so it has a more grilled appearance. Just like all other full roasts, this one doesn’t take time to disappear off the table. I have a family who loves their whole chicken roast. Somehow, HD and the kids love to fight it out for the good parts of the chicken! 😉 Before moving off to the recipe, the other whole chicken roasts already on the blog that you could try out…

Kerala Style Baked Chicken – though the pictures are cut chicken, I do this often for whole chicken too!

Tandoori Whole Chicken

Pepper Whole Chicken Roast

Kozhi Nirachathu ~ Malabar Style Whole Chicken

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5 from 3 votes

Lahori Chargha ~ Lahori Style Chicken Roast

Course Chicken

Cuisine Pakistani

Prep Time 8 hours hours

Cook Time 40 minutes minutes

Total Time 8 hours hours 40 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Rafeeda

Ingredients

• 1 kg chicken
• 3 tbsp yogurt
• 1 tbsp vinegar
• 2 tsp ginger garlic paste
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp red chili powder
• 3/4 tsp Kashmiri red chili powder
• 1/2 tsp garam masala powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin powder
• 1 tsp chaat masala powder
• Salt to taste

Instructions

• Remove the skin of the chicken and wash well. Pat dry. Draw stashes over the chicken's thick parts.
• Whisk together ingredients from yogurt to chaat masala powder in a bowl.
• Put the chicken in and coat well. Cover with a cling film and marinate for as long as possible, preferably overnight.
• Steam the chicken in a steamer for 15 minutes before deep frying it, which is the traditional way. I used my air fryer at 200 degrees for 40 minutes.
• Serve hot with a generous sprinkling of chaat masala.