Mirchi Ka Salan
Talk about Hyderabad’s cuisine, and Hyderbadi Mirchi Ka Salan is sure to become a topic of interest there. This is one of the classic Hyderabadi curries with its characteristic lightly tangy and very subtly spiced creamy gravy.
Green Chillies /Hari Mirch – stems kept intact – slit and seeds shaken off
The masalas in this curry are all braised/bhun-na until oil floats on top, which is a critical procedure to draw out flavors from the various spices added to the gravy, and only in the last stages, water is added to give it a gravy consistency.
I have used spicy medium sized thick green chillies for this curry as shown in the picture, which are the usual kind favored. The chilies preferred for this curry should have smooth skin, not wrinkly, medium thick, straight and long and fresh with stems intact.
white poppy seeds/khus-khus
Do not be be under the misconception that as green chillies are being used in this curry, the curry is going to be fiery hot. Do not worry~due to the addition of spices like poppyseeds, sesame seeds, groundnuts and coconut, the gravy has a mellow and creamy attribute which is utmost delicious. Furthermore, the seeds from all the green chillies, which are main reason for the hotness of the chillies, are discarded before being added to the gravy, hence they are mild after being cooked.
Hyderabadi Mirchi Ka Salan – Green Chillies in Sesame Seeds Sauce
The procedure to prepare Baghare Baingan and Tamatar ks Salan is also almost the same as this curry. Also, you can also add any firm fish fillets (Red snapper, Haddock, Cod, etc) to the gravy instead of green chillies to make it a fish curry/Machli ka Salan . There is no difference, except for the fact that in Baghare Baingan, brinjals are used; in fish curry, fish fillets are used; in Tamatar ka Salan, tomatoes are used and in this curry, the green chillies are used.
Hyderabadi Mirchi Ka Salan – Green Chillies in a Tangy-Sesame Seeds Sauce
Ingredients:
Green chillies (thick and long, as shown in the picture) – 250 gms in weight
For dry paste/masala:
Khus Khus/White Poppy seeds – 1 tbsp
Till/Sesame Seeds – 1/2 cup/50 gms
Groundnuts/MoomPhalli – 1/2 cup/50 gms
Dry desiccated Coconut – 3/4 cup/50 gms
Dry roasted Coriander seed/Dhania powder – 1 tsp
For gravy:
Canola oil – 1/2 cup
Yellow Onions – 3, large, sliced slightly thick into semi circular rings
Ginger garlic paste – 2 tsp
Salt – 1 tbsp
Red Chilli Powder – 1 1/2 tsp (optional)
Turmeric/ Haldi – 1/2 tsp
Cilantro/ Kothmir – 3 tbsp, finely chopped
Thick tamarind pulp – 3 tbsp
For baghaar/tempering:
Cumin seeds/ Zeera – 2 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves/ Kariyapaak – 2 sprigs
Mustard seeds/ Rai – 1/2 tsp
Nigella seeds/ Kalaunji – 1/3 tsp
Fenugreek seeds/ Methi dana – 1/8 tsp
Method:
1. Wash, drain, then pat dry and slit the green chillies. Shake the seeds off the chillies to remove the extra spiciness (use gloves while you work with chillies to avoid your hands getting burnt with its chemicals). Keep the stems intact. Keep aside.
2. Heat a small non-stick frying pan at medium high heat and once it is hot, dry roast the desiccated coconut, sesame seeds, khus khus, peanuts, coriander seeds and 1 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, all one by one separately for just 2-3 minutes until they are a few shades darker and remove them into separate bowls. Do not burn the spices. Once cool, rub off the skins of the peanuts. Grind them all separately in a spice grinder to a fine powder or a smooth paste without adding any water and keep aside.
3. Heat a large non-stick frying pan at medium high heat, and as soon as it warms up add the sliced onions. Let the onions sweat and keep stirring them until they are just starting to brown up in color as shown in the picture below. Once the onions are soft and lightly browned in color, remove them to a platter and keep aside. Once the dry roasted onions are cool, puree them in a grinder until smooth. Keep aside.
4. Pour oil in a cooking pot and once hot enough, carefully add the green chillies and cover with a splatter screen. The oil spits as soon as you add green chillies, so be careful. Stir fry them till blisters form on the skins. Using a slotted spoon remove the chillies to a platter and keep aside.
Clockwise from top – Fried green chillies, roasted desiccated coconut, roasted peanuts,
roasted sesame seeds and fried onions
5. In the same hot oil, add remaining 1 tsp cumin seeds, mustard seeds, curry leaves, nigella seeds and fenugreek seeds. Let the spices splutter for a minute. Add the pureed roasted onion paste and immediately cover the pan with a lid for a minute. Lower the heat to medium low and shake the pan to thoroughly mix. This is done for the mixture to absorb all the flavour from the baghaar(tempering). Uncover, lower the heat and add ginger garlic paste and fry for 3-4 minutes. Add the desiccated coconut paste, sesame seed paste, khus-khus paste and peanut paste and stir fry it for 2-5 minutes or until you see that the mixture comes together and starts leaving oil. Add the red chilli powder, salt and turmeric. Mix well and keep stir frying it for a further 2 minutes on medium low heat. Once the raw odor of the peanuts, ginger-garlic paste and coconut is no longer coming, add the dry roasted coriander and cumin seed powder and chopped cilantro and mix well. Pour in 3 1/2 cups warm water and the tamarind pulp. Mix well. Add the fried green chillies and stir. Cover the lid and let cook on simmer for 20-25 minutes while stirring frequently, until the oil has all separated and the chillies well cooked in the masala gravy. Remove from heat and serve the curry.
Suggested Accompaniments: Basmati Chawal/Plain Long White Rice, Murgh Biryani/Fragrant Rice+Chicken Casserole, Gosht Ki Biryani/Fragrant Mutton+Rice Casserole, Naan/Indian Flat Bread.
This is my contribution to Think Spice Think Poppy seeds event being hosted by RV at her blog.
( I am posting this recipe again as due to some problem this post of mine was deleted! )
Luv,
Mona
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February 20th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
Yumm……this is spicy. I have once tried with bananna peppers using Indira’s recipe. Your is hot-spicy and tangy, love to taste this.
February 20th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
Mona, I’m glad you posted this recipe again since I missed it the first time you posted it. Thanks for an authentic mirchi ka salan recipe. I can imagine the flavors reading the recipe and savoring the picture.:)
Bookmarked!
February 20th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
Looks like there are ways and ways of making this salan – I have a recipe using peanuts and copra but no coconut milk – I like this a lot too!
February 20th, 2008 at 11:59 pm
I love mirchi ka salan with biryani. they serve this in office every day (cuz we are in hyd, the biryani hub!). somehow making it myself seems too tedious! 🙂
February 21st, 2008 at 5:14 am
I love mirchi ka salan as side for my hyd dum biryani!!
Love the combo and so glad I found the recipe here Mona.
February 21st, 2008 at 7:04 am
I love it. I made it with Banana peppers and it was really really hot!:D
February 21st, 2008 at 10:35 am
wow, looks delicious! we use large sized jalapenos.
February 21st, 2008 at 11:47 am
yum…I love mirchi ka saalan…with any combination…
February 21st, 2008 at 4:05 pm
wow Mona, this sure looks “hot and spicy!” loved the recipe..I can’t eat too much spice, but I sure will be using the curry:)
February 22nd, 2008 at 6:34 pm
You lost the comments? Well, I’m sure I told you how amazing this looks and how much I would love to try this!
February 22nd, 2008 at 10:19 pm
Hey Mona,
I noticed the recipe gone missing from your blog too, anyways…
Mirchi ka salan is one of my favorites and your recipes looks easy to cook.
I however make it a bit different…for my version visit my blog as soon as I update it :p
Lubna.
February 25th, 2008 at 6:44 am
Hi mona,
we have something waiting for you over our way.
zainab & meedo
Arabic Bites
February 25th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
This recipe looks so so delicious! All your recipes look so appetizing to me Mona your pictures always make me want to eat them up. 🙂
February 26th, 2008 at 7:11 pm
Great recipe again.Made it with spicy chillies and proved to be hit! Thanks again.
February 26th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
Mona dear,
Another thing, just to add to the similarities between us..:) Just remembered Grandma’s version of this, have to get recipe from her..
March 11th, 2008 at 3:00 am
I love this dish so much- it was one of my first posts, but I will surely try your recipe next time. When I prepared mine, I used jalapenos and didn’t remove any of the seeds…it was quite hot! Bearable, but next time I will take your advice and de-seed most 🙂 of them so that my head doesn’t feel so light. Such a luxurious dish, is it not?
Pelocano! Removing seeds is optional, some people like it too hot, till fumes come out of their ears, and some cannot bear it. So, do it according to your taste. Its is one of the most Authentic Hyderabadi dishes. ~Mona
March 31st, 2009 at 5:52 pm
Love Mirchi ka salan.. Will give ur recipe a try.. Thanks Mona..
June 12th, 2009 at 12:11 am
I want to try this recipe but am wondering if we need ginger-garlic paste? Please let me know..thanks.
Rani, Ginger garlic paste is needed for Mirchi Ka Salan. ~Mona
July 25th, 2009 at 11:25 am
monajee, as mirchi ka salan is signature recipe of hydrabad, i belive there would not be any variation much. yet just for the name sake , if i have to ask you , can we have subtitute of tamarind pulp? thanks
ShaikhMohammed, you cannot omit or substitute tamarind in this recipe. ~Mona
December 7th, 2009 at 9:28 am
Mirchi ka salan is one of my favorite restaurant recipes. Didn’t know that it is prepared just like Bhagare Baingan, will try this one soon. Your instructions are so descriptive and I am loving the picture of the curry. It looks really hot!!!
December 30th, 2009 at 1:34 am
When do you add the ground sesame seeds? I dont think I see that anywhere in the recipe…
Just updated the post. ~Mona
April 1st, 2010 at 4:23 am
Could you please convert the weights in gms to tea or table spoons please?
I do not have a weighing scale 🙁
Aseem
Aseem, I have updated the post. ~Mona
May 16th, 2010 at 12:40 pm
This turned out very good. I made a couple of adjustments though. Substituted peanut butter for the peanuts and after the “bhagar”, I simply dumped in everything excluding the fried chilies, covered and let the flavors mingle for some time. Once the oil came to the top and the masala tasted good, I added the peppers which then simmered for another 10 minutes covered. It saved a few steps but turned out amazing. Also your proportions were perfect. Thanks. 🙂
May 20th, 2010 at 12:02 am
Hi Mona,
I made mirchi ka salan as per your recipe and it turned out superbly. I know the gravy becomes thick due to groundnut and til paste. Do have any tips on how to make it less thicker as it is easier to eat with biryanis?
thanks.. awaiting your reply
Jaya, you can add a little more water and adjust the consistency of the gravy to your desire before you add chillies.
May 23rd, 2010 at 4:59 pm
Adaab Mona,
I tried this recipe but my turned out bitter. wonder where I went wrong.
Saniya
WaAlaiKumAsSalaam Saniya, there might be teo reasons for this. One is that you must have overdone the process of buun-na for the masalas. The other reason might be that the chillies which you have used for the curry must have been bitter.
November 7th, 2010 at 4:47 pm
Asak mona,
Nice recipe…but this recipe doesn’t need tamarind pulp as we add it in baghare baigan and fish curry? kindly let me know..
WaAlaiKumAsSalaam Humera. You ought to add tamarind paste to Mirchi ka Salan as well.
November 20th, 2010 at 8:16 am
You can add mirch and baigan both together and taste excellent. The spcices you gave is for what quantity.I mean how many people can eat.
Syed Ali, the above recipe serves around 6-8 people.
January 1st, 2011 at 9:32 pm
Dear Mona,
Phenomenal recipe…. comes out wonderfully…
One query: what do I do with the cumin that we first dry roasted and powdered?
Any specific reason for grinding all of them separately?
Aseem
Aseem, each spice takes a different time to get roasted, and hence I roast them all separately. Also I have corrected the typo.
March 11th, 2011 at 12:23 pm
I made mirchi ka salan a week ago by religiously following your recipe and it came out wonderful. thanks for sharing this fabulous recipe, i treasure it
March 30th, 2011 at 3:04 am
80 people enjoyed your Mirchi ka salan with my mother’s ande ki biryani!
And then we ate the salan as a snack too!… thank you for everything…
Aseem
April 8th, 2011 at 9:04 pm
aswk mona
can u please give me the serving size for this recipie?
WaAlaiKuMAsSalaam Fatima, this recipe serves almost 15-20 people or more. It depends on the amount of water you add, the degree to which you cook it, and the end consistency.
June 2nd, 2011 at 6:54 pm
Mona
Just wanted to let you know that your recipe was wonderful..My guests enjoyed it so much!! Can see the authenticity in the recipe…will post it in my blog today!!
September 7th, 2011 at 9:18 am
Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh
Dear Mona
Mabrook! How’s the li’l one doing? Hope she has been blessed with ONE beautiful and meaningful name inshallah!
Have bookmarked your wonderful website. I have a query on this recipe as I do want to try it out. The Middle East doesn’t allow the sale of poppy seeds as it’s derived from the opium poppy plant from which the narcotic drug opium is extracted. You would know that having lived in Saudi Arabia. So what can I substitute for poppy seeds in this recipe without compromising the texture and flavor?
Regards
Mrs. Sheikh
WaAlaiKumAsSalaam Mrs.Sheikh, simply skip poppy seeds if unavailable. Inshallah it wont matter.
April 22nd, 2013 at 7:10 am
I love this blog! Have bookmarked it, and tried many, many recipes. Your Chicken 65 was a big hit at a potluck lunch in the school where I teach.
Is there any substitute for poppy seeds, as neither are they available in KSA,nor are we allowed to carry them with us when we come from India.
Just omit them if they are unavailable
June 20th, 2013 at 4:13 pm
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February 10th, 2014 at 4:49 am
A delicious recipe.A perfect side dish to go with Biriyani.
September 26th, 2015 at 1:45 am
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January 25th, 2016 at 8:35 am
I do not get desiccated coconut here. Can I substitute with Kopra or fresh coconut.
January 25th, 2016 at 9:43 am
You can use dried kopra.