Recipe-1 › Curries of the world › Mirchi ka salan
Mirchi ka salan
Hyderabad’s chilli curry in a peanut, sesame and coconut gravy soured with tamarind, served with biryani.
Too hot for you? Use half the chilli (powder, paste or fresh chillies) and leave out the green chillies.
New here? How this page works
Recipe-1 is one simple curry recipe in nine steps: fry onions and green chillies, add your vegetables or meat, add chilli powder and turmeric, then water and salt, and boil. With small changes the same nine steps make curries from all over the world.
This page takes those nine steps and shows what to change to make Mirchi ka salan. You don’t need to read anything else first: every base step is written out below. The changes are worked out on paper from what is typical for this dish; not yet kitchen-tested. Cooked it? Tell others how it went.
Green: the base recipe step (crossed out = do not use it for this dish)Red: what to do instead for Mirchi ka salan
See the full base recipe (with timers and tips) · See all curries on the world map
You’ll need
The amounts change with the number of people; cooking times stay about the same (use a bigger pot for more). Taste as you go: you can always add more chilli or salt, but you cannot take it out.
Main ingredient: 250 g Large mild green chillies (bhavnagri or banana chillies), slit.
From the base recipe
- 1 Onions
Green chilliesnot used- 4 tbsp Cooking oil
- 1 tsp Red chilli powder
- ½ tsp Turmeric
- 1 tsp · 300 ml Salt and water
- 1 tbsp Ginger garlic paste
Cloves, cardamom and cinnamonnot usedGaram masala (optional)not used
Add for Mirchi ka salan
- 2 tbsp · 2 tbsp · 2 tbsp Peanuts, sesame seeds and desiccated coconut, roasted and ground
- 2 tbsp Tamarind pulp
- ½ tsp · ½ tsp · ¼ tsp Cumin, mustard and nigella seeds
- 1 sprig Curry leaves
Leave out
- Vegetables (the chillies are the vegetable)
- Whole spices
The nine steps, with the changes
Where a step has a red line, do the red line and not the crossed-out green base step. Steps with only green are done just as in the base recipe.
Base step: do not use
Cut onions and chillies.Mirchi ka salan: do thisChop the onions; the large chillies replace the small green ones.
Base step: do not use
Fry in some oil for around 4 minutes on medium-high heat.Mirchi ka salan: do thisCrackle mustard, cumin and nigella seeds and curry leaves in oil, then fry the onions.
Base step: do not use
Cut the vegetable(s) of your choice.Mirchi ka salan: do thisSlit the large chillies and remove some seeds.
Base step: do not use
Add them and fry for around 4 minutes on medium-high heat.Mirchi ka salan: do thisFry the chillies until blistered, then set them aside. Add ginger garlic paste to the pan.
Base step: do not use
Add red chilli powder and turmeric.Mirchi ka salan: do thisAdd chilli powder, turmeric and the ground peanut-sesame-coconut paste and fry until oil separates.
Keep frying until just before they start browning.
Base step: do not use
Add some water.Mirchi ka salan: do thisAdd water and tamarind pulp.
Add salt.
Base step: do not use
Boil until the gravy is as thick as you like.Mirchi ka salan: do thisPut the chillies back and simmer 10 minutes until the gravy is thick and nutty.
Serve: With Hyderabadi biryani.
For meat and seafood, make sure it is cooked through: chicken until no pink remains inside; mutton, goat and beef need long, slow cooking.
Food marks, as on packaged food in India: vegetarian · non-vegetarian (meat, fish or egg). Dishes with both marks can be made either way.
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