Hyderabad, a city in south India, is known for its distinctive food, its beautiful palaces, and its rich nizams – erstwhile royalty – who called this region home. The nizams of Hyderabad were well known for their boundless riches and their love of the good life and, not surprisingly, their cooks created delicious foods that not just kept them happy and sated, but that went on to become firm favorites for Indians everywhere. One of these more delicious contributions is the Hyderabadi biryani, an especially popular form of biryani in a country where there are many, many versions of this popular rice dish. And to accompany that biryani, the nizams’ cooks stirred up another dish that was divinely vegetarian – even vegan – and that is perfectly capable of standing on its own in a meal: Mirchi ka Salan or Mirch ka Salan. Mirch ka Salan literally translates from urdu, the language the nizams spoke, to a curry of chili peppers. And that’s exactly what it is. Most people outside India – and even some within – might find the idea of a curry made with chili peppers preposterous, but then they’d be surprised at the levels of heat some native Indian tastebuds can tolerate. Every curry my parents, die-hard lovers of heat, ever cooked up would be a brilliant red with heaps of chili peppers, and my brother-in-law, Sampath, loved to eat rice mixed in with a good amount of a red chili pepper powder and a bit of ghee, instead of a sambar or dal. That said, this Mirchi ka Salan is not really that hot. You can use a really mild pepper in this recipe, like banana peppers, sweet peppers, pepperoncini, even poblano if you can tolerate a slightly higher heat. I used shishito peppers, which are all over the supermarkets these days, with a promise on the package that only one in 10 peppers is hot. While that promise isn’t always kept, in my experience, I love shishito peppers – they have great flavor and they taste amazing just stir-fried, as a snack. In this Mirchi ka Salan they are spectacular. The peppers are stir-fried and then dunked into a sauce made of peanuts, coconut, sesame seeds and poppy seeds. It’s the perfect base for the spicy peppers, and one that will leave you licking your fingers.
Tips on making a delicious Mirchi ka Salan:
You can use any chili pepper – from mild to hot – depending on how hot you like it. But keep in mind that there are a lot of chili peppers here, so your curry will be very hot if you use extremely hot peppers. Like I said above, shishito, sweet peppers, cubanelles and pepperoncini peppers are a good choice. Jalapenos tend to be quite spicy, so I wouldn’t go with them and I wouldn’t advise you to. Make sure you slit the peppers open before you stir-fry them, and, if needed, deseed them. Deseeding peppers further reduces the heat. Slitting the peppers ensures they won’t explode in the saucepan when you’re stir-frying them, so be sure to do it. I use coconut milk in this recipe, mainly for convenience, but fresh or dry coconut shreds are a more traditional addition. You can add any one of these. Make sure you blend your peanut paste really fine – you want all sorts of textures to come together in this recipe, and a smooth, silky sauce is the perfect base.
Serving suggestions
My favorite way to eat this delicious dish is with a soft, fluffy vegan naan bread or any naan. Traditionally, it’s eaten with a biryani, and it would be lovely with this easy vegetable biryani. Check to get new recipe updates by email.
You can also use any other Indian flatbread, like a roti or a chapati. Or just eat it with a delicious jeera rice.
More Indian vegan curry recipes
Railway Mushroom Curry Vegan Chicken Curry South Indian Vegetable Curry Kashmiri Dum Aloo My Dad’s “Not-Mutton” Mushroom Curry Vegan Paneer Butter Masala
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