MIRCHI KA SALAN / GREEN CHILLI CURRY....

The first thing that crosses the mind of any westerner when they think about Indian food is ‘How spicy is it going to be?’ Mirchi ka salan is an authentic Indian curry in which chilly is the key ingredient, But  the addition of  other ingredients such as sesame seeds, peanuts, yogurt and coconut  helps to tone down the heat of the green chillies used in the curry.

Mirchi ka salan is a popular Hyderabadi dish, served as a side for Biryani. This dish stands out when compared to others with its unique hot and creamy flavor. It is a time consuming dish but the flavours of this dish make it worth the wait. This dish is special to three of us since it takes us back to our Hyderabadi memories !!

Let’s get started!!!!!

Ingredients:

The Roast mix

• Peanuts – 2 tbsp
• Sesame seeds – 1 tbsp
• Coconut – 1 tbsp

The Gravy mix

• Oil – 1 tbsp
• Red chillies – 2 broken roughly
• Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
• Curry leaves – 6-8 leaves
• Onions – 2 Medium finely chopped
• Salt – As needed
• Turmeric – 1 tsp
• Ginger garlic paste – 1 tbsp
• Red chilli powder – 1 tsp
• Coriander powder – 1 tbsp
• Cumin powder – 1 tsp
• Coriander – Chopped finely
• Yogurt – ½ Cup beaten
• Jaggery
• Green Chillies – 6-8 ( as per required)

Method

Slit the green chillies in the middle and remove the seeds. When they are dry add them to oil and fry till they look little lighter shade.

Dry roast the peanuts in a medium flame. When the peanuts are roasted, add the sesame seeds. When the sesame seeds are golden brown, add coconut. Keep an eye on this. It gets burnt easily. Make a fine paste with this mix. Add water as required.

Now add oil in a pan, when it's hot enough add mustard seeds and wait for the mustard seeds to crackle. Add curry leaves & onions and cook till they are golden brown. 

Add red chilly, turmeric, cumin powder, red chilli powder, coriander powder and ginger garlic paste along with salt, cook until the raw smell is gone.

 

Now add the dry roast paste to this mix. Fry for two to three minute and then add some water to it. Cook till it boils, for about fifteen minutes. Stir in between till the oil oozes out nicely.

Add coriander leaves. Boil for two minutes.

              

Add the beaten yogurt and simmer for another ten minutes. When it oozes out oil again add the fried green chillies and jaggery to the gravy and let it cook for 5 mins so that the juices of the gravy get absorbed by the chilies.

                     

And its ready to serve ...

Notes

• Yogurt can be replaced by 2 medium size tomatoes. 
• You can also add tamarind juice in this recipe if you have a liking for tangy taste. 
• You can use any kind of chillies but make sure you de seed them. Here we have used 2 different types.(oil your hands when removing the seeds  from chili)
• We can use sugar instead of jaggery.
• Add water on how thick you want your gravy to be.
• When you are dry roasting the mix make sure it's on medium flame as it gets roasted quickly and may get burnt if on high flame.
• Don't let the dry roast mix stick to your pan, so keep mixing till it’s cooked.

Mirchi ka salan is very similar to Bahara Baingan, except you add chillies instead of eggplant and also add curd. This dish has lots of flavors and stands out because of its spicy tangy & creamy flavor all put together in one dish. When tasted with biryani you can feel all the flavours burst into your mouth. It can also be served with Roti, Naan, phulka or Jeera rice.

Happy Roasting !!!