Chicken Handi and Butter Chicken in Ajman: The Mild End of the Menu

Most of a Pakistani menu is built for people who want heat. The handi section is where the rest of the table gets looked after, and it is the part of the card most people skip past without reading.

Four of them here, AED 24 to AED 26, and two carry no chilli heat at all. If you are feeding children, or eating with someone who finds a karahi too much, this is the section to read.

Handi is not karahi, and the difference is the pot

This trips people up constantly, and the answer is genuinely about cookware.

A karahi is a wide steel pan over a high flame. Wide and hot means moisture leaves fast, which is why a karahi ends up tight and dry with the sauce clinging in a thin layer. It is a sharp, direct dish.

A handi is a narrow clay pot cooked slowly. Narrow and slow means the moisture stays in, so you finish with an actual sauce. The clay also holds heat evenly, which is why the meat ends up softer than the same cut in a karahi.

Practically: if you want something to mop with a lot of bread, order a handi. If you want something assertive to eat in smaller amounts, order a karahi. The karahi section is a separate conversation.

The four, and who each one is for

Zafran chicken handi, AED 24. The house version, saffron and cashew in the base. Mild to medium, and the one to order if you do not know where to start. Note the cashew if anyone at the table has a nut allergy.

Chicken achari handi, AED 25. Pickling spices, mustard seed and a sour edge. This is the interesting one, and the one that divides a table. If you like achar, order it. If you are unsure, do not make it your only dish.

Special butter chicken, AED 25. Tandoori chicken folded into tomato and butter. Mild, rich and the most universally recognised dish on the whole menu. It is what to order for somebody who has never eaten Pakistani food.

Chicken white handi, AED 26. Cream, yoghurt and white pepper. No chilli at all. This is the single best thing on our card for small children, and the order for anyone who wants the richness without the heat.

Feeding a family without three separate arguments

The usual problem with a desi table is that one dish suits the adults and nothing suits the children. A handi solves it because the mild versions are not a compromise, they are just a different dish.

For	Order	AED
Two adults, two children	Chicken white handi, half chicken karahi, four naan	49
One mild, one hot	Butter chicken, half mutton Charsi karahi, four roti	61
Nobody wants heat	White handi, Zafran handi, four naan, two lassi	68
A child eating alone	Butter chicken, one butter naan	27

Add roghni naan at AED 2 rather than plain roti with a handi. The sauce is the point and an enriched bread carries it better.

If you want anything adjusted, milder or without a particular masala, tell the counter when you order. Everything goes on the fire after you order it, so changing it is genuinely possible rather than a polite fiction.

What to drink with it

A handi is rich, and the instinct to order a soft drink with it is the wrong one. Sweet or salty lassi at AED 5 does far more. Salty for the butter chicken, sweet for the achari if you want to take the edge off the sourness.

To finish: kheer at AED 8 is the one that suits a handi meal, because it is cold and milky and picks up where the cream left off.

Ordering

A handi travels better than almost anything else we cook. The clay pot keeps it hot and the sauce actually improves slightly on the drive as it settles, which makes it the right thing to order for delivery across Al Nuaimiya, Al Rawda and the rest of Ajman.

Message 050 720 8707 with what you want. We are at Amman Street, Ajman Industrial Area 2, near Nesto Hypermarket, open every day from 7:30 am to midnight, with indoor and outdoor seating and families welcome at every table.