Mirchi ka Salan

As famous as the Hyderabadi Dum Biryani is its accompaniment the Mirchi ka Salan. It is a Hyderabadi specialty made with big green chillies in a peanut and sesame gravy. At home, we don't usually make any accompaniment to go with biryani or masala rice. But today when I made masala rice I felt like making some gravy to go with it. I thought of rassawala aloo and at the same time my husband felt like having mirchi ka salan. And that's when my husband came in the kitchen and popped the idea of making mirchi ka salan. So out we came from the kitchen and checked recipes on the internet and decided on a mix and match of three recipes and dropped some and added some and came up with this yummy salan . This is a keeper in our home now and I thought it would be great to share it.  

Making this mirchi ka salan was fun because we divided the tasks to get done quickly. So while I gathered the ingredients, put it out in bowls and ground the paste, my husband did the chopping, roasting, and sauteing. And thus was cooked this mirchi ka salan.

 

Ingredients

Green chillies - 4 (I used Bhavnagari chillies)
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Fenugreek seeds - 8 to 10
Onion - 1/2
Turmeric pwd - 1/2 tsp
Red Chilli pwd - 1 tsp
Tamarind - 1 tsp
Jaggery - 1 tsp
Salt as per taste
Oil - 3 tbsp
for paste
Peanuts - 2.5 tbsp peanuts
Coconut, grated - 1 tbsp coconut
Poppy seeds - 1 tsp
Sesame seeds - 1 tsp
Onion - 1/2
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Coriander pwd - 1 tsp
Soak the tamarind in water and make a paste and discard the waste. Slice the onion and keep aside.

Heat a pan and dry roast separately the peanuts, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, cumin seeds, coriander powder and coconut. Then add a little oil and fry the onion till light golden. Keep all these aside till cool and then grind to a fine paste.

Cut the stalks of the green chillies and carefully deseed as much as possible. Heat oil in a pan and lightly fry the chillies on low heat.
 

In the same pan, add a little more oil if needed and once it's hot add the mustard seeds and let it splutter. Once spluttered add the fenugreek seeds and the sliced onion and saute till the onion turns light golden. Add the turmeric and red chilli powders and saute for a minute. Then add the ground paste and saute for a few minutes. Add 1 cup water and a little salt and let it boil. Add the fried chillies and the tamarind paste and jaggery. Let it cook for a few minutes. Check for seasoning and if done take off the heat.

Keep covered till ready to serve.