Mirch Ka Salan or Chili pepper Salan

Unlike my older son, my younger son loves spicy food. He was leaving for college today after a long vacation.

I had to use up all those peppers that you see on my slide show, an I am still having fun cooking my peppers, so here is what I cooked for dinner today: Mirch ka Salan, Chapatis, Golden Cauliflower, Plain Basmati rice and Raita.

Salan is a popular curry with sesame seed and peanut base with hint of tamarind and Jaggary. This is original dish from Hyderabad, India. The curry can be made with Eggplant or variety of Chili peppers. You can use Jalapenos peppers or Hungarian peppers. You may want to remove the veins and seeds from the peppers to reduce heat, or you may use variety of peppers that are not very spicy. For example I used Anaheim peppers. They are not spicy at all. I had to use cayenne pepper powder to give this dish a little kick.


Ingredients:
10 Anaheim peppers slit lengthwise with stem intact
¼ cup peanuts - roasted and skins removed
½ cup sesame seeds – toasted
½ cup of coriander seeds
1 teaspoon of peppercorn
3 small bay leaves
1 small stick of cinnamon
2 table spoon of Cumin seeds
¼ teaspoon of cloves
½ teaspoon of cardamom seeds
3 pods of dried red chili peppers (desired heat)
½ - 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper powder (optional)
Salt to taste

3 tbl spoon oil
1 tbl spoon of cumin seeds (*)
1 teaspoon of black mustard seeds
¼ teaspoon of asafetida

1 onion finely chopped in food processor
5 cloves of garlic
1” piece of ginger
4 small tomatoes pureed
1 and half cup of water
1 teaspoon of Tamarind paste (diluted in water)
1-2 tbl spoon of Jaggary or sugar (optional)
Coriander leaves chopped for garnish


Method:
• In a wide shallow pan roast all the dry spices sesame seeds and peanuts on medium heat.
• Let them cool, and grind them in electric grinder, add salt to this mixture
• Fill the peppers with this ground spice mix, set aside.
• In food processor finely chop onion, garlic and ginger.
• In sauce pan heat oil, add one table spoon of cumin seeds and 1 teaspoon of black mustard seeds when oil is hot.
• These seeds will crackle, when they are light brown, add Asfoetida and immediately followed by onion, garlic and ginger paste.
• Saute this on medium heat for 3-5 min until light brown.
• Add stuffed peppers to and fry them for 1-2 min
• Add tomato puree and 1 and half cup of water to this
• Transfer the chilies in a microwave safe baking dish and cook for 7 min covered with plastic wrap ( after 4 min turn them over).
• Once cooked to desired consistency add tamarind paste diluted in water to this and mix well.
• If you like sweet and tart taste, you may add a little sugar or Jaggery (1-2 tablespoon) to this dissolved in tamarind water.
• Cook for another 2-3 min in microwave.
• Garnish with chopped cilantro leaves
• Serve with Chapati, Rice or Biryani.
• A cup of soothing Raita/yogurt on the side helps a lot with the heat of peppers.

Recipe modified by Surekha from different sources (family and friends)
Photographs by Surekha.