Hyderabadi Mirchi Salan is one of the most flavoursome gravies consisting of chillies. The gravy is spicy, nutty, silky & a bit tangy. Long & slit green chillies, peanuts, sesame seeds, coconut & tamarind are the items making it munchable.


History of Hyderabadi Mirchi Salan

Hyderabad is famous for its biryani, Golconda fort, bazaars, Mughal heritage & nizams. Therefore, the hari mirchon ka salan comes from the royal city of Hyderabad, Telangana. For instance, the Hyderabadi Mirchi Salan is a side dish especially eaten with biryani.

The popularity of this dish is immense. This Hyderabadi Mirchi Salan is like Surti Ghari or Surti Khaman to Surtis or Coconut Kheer to South Indians or Paneer Tikka to Punjabis.

Hence, next time you travel to Hyderabad, make sure to have Mirchi ka salan beside your biryani. Besides, one can have it with vegetable biryani, rice, roti, or paratha as well.

Mirchi means chillies in Urdu & Hindi languages, respectively. Likewise, Salan means gravy. Any gravy is ‘Salan’ in the Urdu language.

Henceforth, mirchi+salan means flavourful spicy curry that is mild. All you need is large & thick chillies that are preferable for this dish. Bhavnagri Mirchi is perfect for making this recipe. However, Green Romano Peppers will be great too.

Let’s discuss the consistency of the gravy. It depends on your taste. If you prefer thick gravy, then a slight change in the number of peanuts will do. But if you like gravy the way I do, then follow the peanut measurements here.

Key Points For Hyderabadi Mirchi Salan

Making this Nizami Mirchi Salan at home requires a limited number of things. The most important is to get the right chillies for this recipe. Rest everything is sorted.

Chillies

It is the star ingredient of this recipe. As even the name suggests, the weight of the fabulousness of this recipe is on this ingredient.

Like I said above, do not use hot chillies. I recommend Romano peppers or Bhavnagari Mirchi. If you have any other chilli in mind that is mild, then go ahead. If you like extra teekhapan, then don’t remove the seeds.

Peanuts

Here, peanuts will provide nuttiness to the gravy. Additionally, it will make the gravy thick. Roast them before using them. Roasting will add a smokey flavour to the paste. This way, it will elevate the flavour in three folds.

Tamarind Paste

Tamarind will give a punch of tanginess to this gravy. It will also cut out some of the heat if the gravy gets too spicy for your liking. If you do not have tamarind on hand, one can use yogurt or lemon juice instead. But it will be better if you need not to do that.

Similarly, if you want to add sweetness to the dish, add some jaggery. It goes well with tamarind and further reduces the heat of the chillies.

Onion

Talking about onions, we are sautéing them after we temper mustard seeds here. Then, a step further, we will ground them to paste along with other ingredients. If you opt to do that, make sure you get the onions to be a perfect brown before making their paste.

Remaining Ingredients

Mustard seeds, ginger, garlic, sesame seeds, red chilli powder, etc., all are going to add delectable flavours to the gravy.  Even using poppy seeds can be an addition to the paste. It’s an excellent substitute for sesame seeds.

Check the quantity of sesame or poppy seeds. They can neutralize the intensity of hot chillies. Thus, use them mindfully.

Making Hyderabadi Mirchi Salan

If you are in a hurry, do not attempt this recipe. It requires time. In other words, this recipe demands frying, roasting & grinding processes. But once you have the first morsel of it, I promise all the fuss will be worth it.

If we want to judge the perfection of this dish, then we need to check for the indication of oil leaving the sides in it. Not only that, but you must balance all the flavours, i.e. the spiciness, sweetness, and tanginess, perfectly.

Fry the chillies before using them in the gravy. You can remove the seeds if you cannot handle the spice. But if you like it spicy, then it will be great to let the seeds be.

You can also opt for adding nigella seeds or cumin seeds while tempering the mustard seeds. Do it if you like some spice.

While we are not using the coconut here, you can add those. So we get two options here. Either we use the roasted pieces in the paste. Or we can instead use grated coconut later in the gravy, whatever you prefer!

So, that was it with the Hydrabadi Mirchi Salan recipe today.

Notes:

  • Adjust the water carefully. The gravy thickens once ready, so you may need to add more water.
  • Try this recipe out with the milder version of these chillies. If after trying you feel the need for more spice then use the hot ones.
  • Wash the chillies and dry them with a cloth before using them. It is up to you if you want to keep or remove the crown.
  • You can dry roast the onions or fry them with a little bit of oil. Both are good.