Mirchi Ka Salan is a creamy and flavorful chili pepper curry that is a perfect accompaniment for our famous biryani recipes. This rich and tangy vegan curry will work wonders with other dishes too.
Soak the dry tamarind in a cup of warm water until very soft, about half hour. Squeeze and mash it to extract the pulp. Then drain it well to get the juices and discard the seeds and residues.
Spice and Nut Mixture
Meanwhile, in a wide sauté pan or a frying pan, dry roast the spices (except ½ teaspoon cumin), seeds and nuts, at medium heat, until they darken a bit and turn aromatic.
Cool the seeds/nuts and grind them into a powder, using a nut or spice grinder.
Mirchi Curry
In the same sauté pan, heat oil at medium setting. Add onions and sauté until soft and light brown. Allow to cool and using a food processor, grind onions into a slightly coarse paste.
Next, slit the chili peppers on the side (I used hot banana peppers) and add to the pan and sauté on all sides until light golden in some spots. Remove and set aside to cool.
Heat the remaining oil at medium setting in the same wide sauté pan. When the oil is hot, add ½ teaspoon cumin seeds. Once the seeds crackle, add the curry leaves and sauté for 2 minutes until they start curling.
Then add ginger paste, garlic paste, onion paste, chili powder, turmeric, some salt, brown sugar, stir it all and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the seed-nut powder.
Add tamarind juices, use additional water and adjust to a thin smoothie-like consistency and let it cook for 5 minutes. Adjust salt as per taste.
Slide the sautéed chili peppers into the gravy, cover with a lid and let it simmer at low medium heat, for 10 to 15 minutes, until sauce becomes thick and some of the oil trickles to the surface.
The curry should have a thick and creamy consistency. Add water only as needed. Garnish with chopped cilantro, if you prefer.
Turn off the heat and serve it hot with biryani, rice, naan or parathas.
Video
Notes
Chili Peppers: In the USA, banana peppers or anaheim peppers can work for this recipe. Anaheim peppers are the most pungent, followed by hot banana peppers and then mild banana peppers. Removing seeds also lowers the heat. Other peppers you can use are — shishito, pepperoncini, cubanelles
Tamarind: If you don’t have dry tamarind, then you may use tamarind paste. I would start with a tablespoon, cook it few minutes, taste and then increase it gradually as per preference. The sour taste evolves as you cook, so let that happen before adding more.
Chili Powder: I used Kashmiri chili powder as it is mild and also has a bright red color. If you prefer it hot, then use regular chili powder.
White Poppy Seeds: If you don’t have white poppy seeds, increase the sesame seeds.
Make Ahead: You can make the spice mix and the nut-seed mixture ahead of time. Those can also be made in bulk and stored. The nut and seed mix should be refrigerated or frozen for the long term.
Storage: This chili pepper curry keeps well for quiet sometime. If can be refrigerated for 4 to 5 days or frozen for two months.
Check out the blog post above for drying and storing curry leaves for later use.
All ingredients are available at Indian grocery stores. Dry products can be bought online as well
Nutrition facts do not include any added salt, and are adjusted for removing some oil trickled to the surface of cooked curry.