Baingan Mirchi ka Saalan

Baingan mirchi ka salan is a scrumptious Hyderabadi dish made with eggplant and green chili. A perfect side to biryani or bagara rice!!

Author: Pavani

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Prep Time: 30

Cook Time: 20

Total Time: 50

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: hyderabadi

Servings: serving

Get Recipe Ingredients

In a medium pan on medium flame, dry roast peanuts, sesame seeds, unsweetened coconut and poppy seeds separately until lightly toasted. Remove into a bowl and let cool slightly. Grind to a smooth paste adding about ¼ cup of water.
Heat oil in the same pan; add onions and cook until lightly browned around the edges. Remove from the pan into a bowl. Once cooled, grind the onions into a smooth paste.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil on medium-high flame; add baby eggplants and cook until all the sides are blistered and are fork-tender. Remove onto a plate.
Next add the green chilies and cook until the skins are blistered. Remove onto the plate.

In the same pan; heat the remaining 2 tablespoons oil. Add mustard, cumin and nigella seeds. Cook till the seeds start to splutter, about 30 seconds. Stir in the onion paste and cook for 2~3 minutes, so that the onion paste absorbs the flavor from tempering.
Next add the ginger-garlic paste and cook for 1 minute. Next add peanut-sesame paste and mix well. Cover and cook for 3~4 minutes.
Next add turmeric, red chili powder, tamarind paste and salt. Stir in the eggplants and mirchi along with the water. Mix well. Lower the heat to medium-low. Cover the pan and simmer for 15~20 minutes, stirring occasionally. At this point, veggies should be completely cooked through and the gravy will be thick. Stir in more water, if the gravy looks too thick.

You can use either Indian or Thai purple baby eggplants. Choose small, evenly sized ones.
Medium size Italian or Japanese eggplants can also be used. Slice these into long thin pieces and use.
I like to use green chilies that are not too spicy. Here are a few options:
- Shishito peppers - these are my favorite to use in this recipe because they are mild and tasty.
- Banana peppers - these are mild and have a tangy, spicy kick.
- Anaheim peppers - slightly more spicier than banana peppers, but if you like spicy food, then go for these. You can also remove the seeds and use just the skin to make them milder.
Blanched peanuts without skins are best for this recipe, because they are very convenient. But feel free to use regular peanuts.
You can make the gravy up to 2 days in advance. Store in an airtight container in the fridge. When ready to cook, add it to the dish as written in the recipe.
Note that the gravy thickens as it sits, so add water and heat it through before serving.
Store leftover mirchi ka salan in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Here are few more saalan recipe ideas:
- Baingan ka salan or brinjal salan - omit the chilies and use few more eggplants.
- Mirch ka saalan or mirchi curry - skip the eggplant and just use a few more green chilies.
- Capsicum salan - use 3~4 medium size green or colored bell peppers instead of green chilies in the recipe.

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