Mirchi ka salan

Chillies in a ground peanut sauce that is deliberately grainy.

Vegan.

Ingredients

• 12 large mild green chillies
• 120 g raw peanuts
• 3 tablespoons sesame seeds
• 40 g desiccated coconut
• 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
• 3 tablespoons ginger and garlic paste
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 2 bay leaves
• 4 tablespoons thick tamarind juice
• 2 onions, sliced
• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 20 curry leaves
• 5 tablespoons oil
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 400 ml water

Method

1. THE SAUCE IS GROUND PEANUTS AND IT IS DELIBERATELY GRAINY. Its article says so in as many words: the mirchi ARE COOKED IN SPICES AND MIXED WITH A GROUND PEANUT PASTE WHICH GIVES THE DISH A GRAINY TEXTURE. That is a result to aim at rather than a fault to correct -- a salan blended glassy smooth has lost the thing that makes it itself.
2. THE INGREDIENT LIST IS COMPLETE AND SHORT ENOUGH TO FOLLOW. THE DISH CONTAINS GREEN CHILLI PEPPERS, PEANUTS, SESAME SEEDS, DRY COCONUT, CUMIN SEEDS, GINGER AND GARLIC PASTE, TURMERIC POWDER, BAY LEAF, AND THICK TAMARIND JUICE. Everything below is in that list.
3. TOAST THE PEANUTS, SESAME, COCONUT AND CUMIN SEPARATELY. Each one takes a different time and burnt sesame will ruin the pot. Peanuts five minutes, coconut two, sesame and cumin one each, all in a dry pan.
4. GRIND THEM COARSE, WITH A LITTLE WATER, AND STOP EARLY. The grain is the point. Rub a little between your fingers: it should feel like damp sand, not like cream.
5. SLIT THE CHILLIES AND FRY THEM FIRST, THEN LIFT THEM OUT. Two minutes in the oil until they blister and go dull green. Cooked in the sauce from raw they stay harsh; fried first they go sweet.
6. TEMPER MUSTARD SEEDS AND CURRY LEAVES, THEN COOK THE ONIONS AND THE PASTE. Ginger and garlic in, then the ground mixture, and then fifteen minutes of patient stirring until the oil comes back out of it. This is the step that decides whether it tastes raw.
7. THE TAMARIND AND THE WATER GO IN AND IT SIMMERS. Twenty minutes, until it is thick enough to coat a chilli. The article asks for THICK TAMARIND JUICE, which is a reduction rather than a splash, and it is the sourness the dish is balanced on.
8. THE CHILLIES GO BACK IN FOR FIVE MINUTES AT THE END. Its article's place for the dish is beside biryani -- it USUALLY ACCOMPANIES HYDERABADI BIRYANI ALONGSIDE DAHI CHUTNEY -- and it notes the same sauce made with tomatoes or aubergine becomes tamatey ka salan or baigan ka salan.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under India · All recipes