Mirchi ka Salan - Classic Hyderabadi Green Chilli Curry

Wash green chilies and using a clean kitchen towel wipe them dry. Using a knife make a small slit in the middle of the chilies. Set them aside.

Squeeze tamarind in water for 4-5 minutes. Run this water through sieve and set aside.

In a skillet or kadai, dry roast peanuts on low flame for 10-15 minutes by stirring continuously until the skin of peanuts turn brown and fragrant. Remove on a kitchen plate and leave to cool.

In the same skillet, dry roast sesame seeds. (As the skillet is hot, the sesame will get roasted in 2-3 minutes, so be careful, otherwise sesame seeds will get burnt). Remove into a mixer jar.

If using dry coconut powder or slices, then dry roast until it turns light brown. Add this also to the mixer jar with sesame seeds.

Remove the skin from the peanuts by gently rubbing between your palms and fingers. Now add these peanuts to the mixer jar along with cloves of garlic.

Add oil and fry sliced onions until they turn nice golden. Using a slotted spoon, drain the excess oil, and remove in to a kitchen plate.

Make a coarse paste of roasted peanuts, roasted sesame seeds, roasted dry coconut and cloves of garlic. Now add fried onions and make a fine paste by adding 4-5 tbsp. of water if required.

In the remaining oil (oil remaining after frying sliced onions) fry green chilies by stirring continuously until they start to change color. Drain and set aside.

Now add the above ground masala along with red chili powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder and salt. On medium flame, by stirring in between fry the masala until it starts to leave the sides of the cooking vessel. (15-20 minutes)

Add green chilies and gently coat them with masala using spoon. To this add tamarind water (refer step 2 above) along with two cups of water.

Bring this to boil and cook covered on low flame for 15-20 minutes by adding sugar. Check for salt and turn off the flame when the desired consistency is reached (mirchi ka salan is semi thick gravy based recipe).

Let this sit on kitchen counter for 20-30 minutes before serving.

Mirchi ka Salan is mostly served with biryani/pulao...but you can serve it with ghee rice or bagare chawal or naan.