Mirchi Ka Salan
Mirchi ka Salan– Chilies in gravy is a very popular Hyderabadi side dish. It is made using a base gravy prepared with peanuts, sesame seeds, ginger, garlic, and some other whole spices.
It is a very well-known dish served at special occasions or weddings in Hyderabad. Usually it is served as side dish with Biryani (Rice dish). I always grew up eating raita or yogurt with Biryani.
Eating it with Mirchi ka Salan is a unique and different take for me. I love it. I like it more with rotis or naan.
My mom makes a dish with bell peppers, but the preparation is very different even though some of the ingredients are same. So, I love to make two different dishes using chilies/peppers.
The way I like to eat mirchi ka salan is with some hot phulkas or paranthas. It tastes great with anything. I have even served it to my friends with naan. It has very complex flavors, and so delicious. I bet it would taste great with rice.
I love how the dry spices are roasted before making them into a paste. That’s what stands out about this dish. The freshly roasted and ground masala. It brings out the oils from spices and freshly grinding them to paste always is a good idea. I make some extra paste and freeze it.
It comes handy for quick dinner anytime of the week.
Let’s look at the steps to make this dish;
- Step 1- The masala is made by roasting peanuts, coconut, sesame seeds with some whole spices and then made into fine paste.
- Step 2 – The chilies are lightly fried in oil to soften them up and get some char. The chilies used are milder version, you can use any mild version. I would not recommend jalapenos or serranos. They are too spicy for this dish. I would easily use bell pepper if not using any long chilies like Italian peppers, cubanelle, banana or sweet peppers, shishitos for mild kick etc.
- Step 3 – The final step is when you temper, saute onions, add the ground masala/paste, and add in the spices. Finish by adding the chilies.
Some other ingredients that are quite essential to create the blend of flavors are tamarind paste- adds tanginess, jaggery adds slight sweetness, and creaminess and nuttiness comes from peanuts, sesame seeds and coconut. If you can use fresh coconut its much better.
Spices round up all the other flavors and creates a beautiful blend of taste!
Mirchi Ka Salan
Ingredients
Masala/Paste
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp fenugreek seeds
- 1-2 whole dry red chilies
- ¼ cup freshly shredded coconut I use frozen fresh coconut
- 1/3 cup peanuts
- 1 tbsp white sesame seeds
- ½ onion, chopped
- 1 green chili optional
- ½ inch ginger
- 2 garlic cloves
Peppers
- 6 long peppers not spicy, see notes
- 3 tbsp oil
Assembly/Tempering
- 3-4 curry leaves
- 1/8 tsp asafetida
- ½ tsp cumin seeds
- ½ tsp mustard seeds
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ chopped onion
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1 tsp red chili powder
- ½ tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp garam masala
- salt to taste
- 1 tbsp tamarind paste/pulp
- ½ tbsp jaggery brown sugar can be substituted
- Garnish – Chopped cilantro, coconut, sesame seeds
Instructions
- Take all the ingredients in a pan on medium heat and saute it until it turns lightly brown. Once browned, specially the onions need to turn brown as it will add so much flavor, turn off the heat. Let it cool slightly. Grind it in a blender with ¼ cup water to make smooth paste.
- Heat some oil in pan. Keep peppers whole. Make slits in the peppers and saute them for few minutes on both sides until they look slightly soft and cooked. It won’t take more than 5-7 minutes for this step. Remove peppers on the side in a plate.
- In same oil left out after frying peppers, heat it up. Once hot, add mustard seeds and cumind seeds, let them sizzle. Once it sizzles, add the curry leaves, asafetida, bay leaf and onions.
- Saute until onion softens up and becomes translucent.
- Add the ground paste we made earlier.
- Start adding spices one by one followed by salt, tamarind paste, jaggery. Mix it well.
- Add some water about ¼ cup to make some gravy.
- Let it simmer for few minutes and add the peppers. Once the gravy has thickened up a little bit, turn off the heat.
- Garnish with cilantro, freshly shredded coconut, sesame seeds. Serve it hot/warm with rice, biryani or rotis.
Notes
- Use any mild peppers. Make sure make slits in peppers.
- I prefer fresh coconut, that I buy frozen from Indian grocery stores. But dry can be a good substitute. Make sure to use unsweetened.
- Tamarind gives a very unique flavor, there is not real substitute for it.
- Jaggery is used in very small quantity, so it can be substituted by brown sugar.
- Spiciness can be adjusted to personal preference.
Enjoy! Devangi