Chicken Salna is a thin and spicy chicken curry from Tamil Nadu, a Southern state of India. It tastes delicious with flaky parotta, biryani, or steamed rice. Make it using my easy recipe.

About Chicken Salna

Chicken Salna (Chicken Chalna) is a thin and spicy chicken curry from Tamil Nadu. It is a version of plain salna in which chicken is added to the recipe.

Many roadside shops in busy markets and restaurants along the highways sell this spicy curry with flaky parotta.

People make many versions of this curry. In this post, I am sharing the easiest chicken salna recipe I learned from a chef during our Madurai visit.

This curry can be made in a traditional pressure cooker, instant pot, or a pan over the stovetop. I am sharing all the 3 methods below, so pick whichever suits you best.

Serve this delicious chicken salna with Parotta, Plain Tawa Paratha, dosa, kal dosai, idli, steamed rice, or Mutton Biryani.

This recipe can be easily doubled or tripled. I made it in my 3-quart instant pot (or a 3-liter stovetop pressure cooker). If you’re scaling it up, use a bigger instant pot or a pressure cooker. The cooking time will remain the same.

Here are some more South Indian curries that you may like: Andhra Style Chicken Curry, Chicken Vindaloo, Malabar Chicken Curry, and Chicken Chettinad.

Ingredients

For The Salna Paste

Whole Spices – You will need whole spices like cumin seeds, fennel seeds (saunf), whole coriander seeds, Kashmiri dry red chilies, bay leaf (tejpatta), black peppercorns (kali mirch), green cardamoms (hari elaichi), and cinnamon (dalchini).

Others – You will also need peanut oil, curry leaves, green chilies, fresh coconut, white poppy seeds, fresh ginger, and garlic.

Note – If peanut oil is unavailable, use any cooking oil you choose. Gingelly oil is also a great alternative.

You can replace white poppy seeds with peanuts or cashew nuts.

Adjust the green chilies as per your spice level.

For The Curry

Chicken – Bone-in skinless chicken pieces are perfect for this chicken salna recipe. Bones add a lot of flavor to the curry, but if you are not a bone-in chicken person, use boneless chicken cubes.

Spice Powders – Kashmiri red chili powder and turmeric powder are the only two spice powders used in this curry.

Others – You will also need cooking oil, curry leaves, salt, onions, tomatoes, mint leaves, and cilantro (fresh coriander leaves).

Water used to cook the curry can be replaced with chicken stock for added flavor.

Kuzhambu Milgai Thool is a traditional South Indian spice blend, and many traditional recipes have a teaspoon of this spice mix added. If you have access to it, add 1 teaspoon powder along with the other spices, and if not, feel free to skip it, as I did.

You can also add a little garam masala powder or curry powder to this curry for a spicy kick

How To Make Chicken Salna

Make The Salna Paste

Heat 4 tablespoon peanut oil in a pan over medium-high heat.

Once the oil is hot, add

• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 tablespoon fennel seeds
• 1 tablespoon whole coriander seeds
• 3-4 Kashmiri dry red chilies
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
• 3-4 green cardamoms
• 1-inch piece of cinnamon stick

and fry them for 4-5 seconds.

Add

• 10-12 curry leaves
• 2-3 green chilies (slit into half)
• ¼ cup grated fresh coconut
• 2 tablespoon white poppy seeds
• 1-inch piece of ginger (sliced)
• 6-8 cloves of peeled garlic

and cook until the coconut is lightly browned (2-3 minutes). Stir frequently.

Remove the pan from the heat and let the mixture cool to room temperature.

Add the cooled mixture to a blender with ½ cup water and make a very fine paste. Scrape the sides of the blender a few times while blending.

Set the ground masala paste aside.

Make The Chicken Salna Curry

Heat 2 tablespoon oil in a pressure cooker on medium-high heat.

Once the oil is hot, add 1 and ½ cups of chopped onions and 15-20 curry leaves and cook until onions turn translucent (4-5 minutes), stirring frequently.

Add ½ cup chopped tomatoes and cook for 3-4 minutes.

Add 1 teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder and ½ teaspoon turmeric powder and cook for another minute. Stir frequently while cooking.

Now add 1 lb (500 g) rinsed and drained bone-in skinless chicken (cut into 1 and ½ inch pieces) and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Add ¼ cup roughly chopped cilantro (coriander leaves) and roughly chopped mint leaves along with the salna paste you made earlier.

Add 2 cups of water and 1 teaspoon salt and mix well.

Tip – Add some water to the blender, remove all the paste sticking to the sides, and then add this water to the cooker to avoid any wastage of the salna paste.

Close the lid of the cooker.

Cook for 1 whistle on high heat. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 10 minutes.

Remove the cooker from the heat and let the pressure release naturally. Open the lid.

Check for salt and add more if required. Serve the salna hot.

Frequently Asked Questions

Variations

Plain Salna – Plain salna is also called empty salna. To make it, skip adding chicken to the recipe and keep the rest of the recipe the same. It is called plain salna because no chicken or vegetables are added. I have a detailed recipe for Plain Salna here.

Vegetable Salna – Replace chicken with vegetables of your choice to make a vegetarian version of salna.

Storage Suggestions

Chicken Salna will last 3-4 days in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.

Reheat it in a pan or microwave until nice and warm. Add a little water while reheating if you feel the gravy has become slightly thick after refrigeration.

This curry freezes well, too. Cool it completely and freeze it in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, reheat, and serve.