Salna

Salna is a South Indian style plain curry made with onion and tomato as its base ingredients. This street style recipe is super easy to make at home and requires only pantry staples. It comes together in under 30 minutes too. Try it!

Want some more South Indian curry recipes, then here are some more for you – Vegetable Stew, Veg Kurma, Mor Kuzhambu, Ulli Theeyal, and Kadala Curry.

Jump to:

• About This Recipe
• Ingredients
• How to make Salna?
• Pro Tips by Neha
• Salna v/s Salan
• Serving Suggestions
• You might also like
• Recipe Card

About This Recipe

We all have heard about the tremendous taste of sambar and rasam recipes, which belong to the Southern part of India. But do you know, there are so many South Indian gravies that taste out of the world. One such gravy is this salna, which comes from the Tamil cuisine of South India.

Salna, also called parotta salna, empty salna, veg salna, or parotta chalna is a tomato-onion-based gravy that has a prominent flavor from fresh coconut. It comes together in under 30 minutes and used pantry staples.

This is very similar to a salan or a biryani gravy when it comes to its color and consistency but in terms of its tastes, it’s very different and unique.

Traditionally, it is served with flaky Malabar parotta, but I even enjoy this curry with appam, neer dosa, or ghee roast dosa. In case you ever go to Tamil Nadu, you can find salna parotta at roadside restaurants too.

It is super easy to make and is just bursting with flavors. And therefore, on the days when we crave some easy and authentic South Indian food other than our usual idli dosa, then this salna with parotta should be on the menu.

While I love other South Indian stews, kurma, gassi, etc, this salna has something that brings me to it again and again. A quick pressure cooker recipe, that will surely meet your both needs, effortless and delicious.

This Street Style Salna is,

• Vegan
• Gluten-Free
• Delicious
• Easy + Quick
• Prepared with pantry staples
• Perfect for everyday meals

Ingredients

To make the coconut paste – Salna uses a fresh coconut paste that is prepared with ingredients such as fresh coconut, fennel seeds, cinnamon, cloves, green cardamoms, poppy seeds, cashew nuts, and green chili peppers.

These ingredients are directly added into the blender and made into a paste.

You can adjust the amount of green chili peppers, as per your taste. If you want it to be nice and spicy, then increase the quantity of green chili peppers.

For the Gravy – To make the gravy, you will need some everyday ingredients such as vegetable oil, whole spices, curry leaves, onion, green chili peppers, salt, ginger-garlic paste, tomato, spice powders, and cilantro (coriander).

A few whole spices such as bay leaves, cinnamon, cloves, black peppercorns, star anise, and fennel seeds are added, which gives a nice subtle flavor when added to hot oil.

To enhance the flavor a little further, add in some spice powders such as coriander powder, Kashmiri red chili powder, turmeric powder, and garam masala powder.

Use fresh curry leaves and cilantro for the best flavour.

Adjust the amount of green chili peppers, depending on how spicy you want the curry to be.

How to make Salna?

Add ½ cup chopped or grated fresh coconut, 1 teaspoon fennel seeds, 1-inch piece of cinnamon stick, 2-3 cloves, 2-3 whole green cardamoms, 1 teaspoon poppy seeds, 8-10 cashew nuts, and 1 green chili pepper to a blender.

Add ¼ cup of water and blend to make a smooth paste.

Heat 3 tablespoon vegetable oil in a pressure cooker over medium high heat.

Once the oil is hot, add 2 bay leaves, 1-inch piece of cinnamon stick, 2-3 cloves, 2-3 black peppercorns, and 1-star anise, and let them crackle for 4-5 seconds.

Add 10-12 curry leaves, 1 cup thinly sliced onion, and 1 green chili pepper (slit into half). Add a little salt and fry on medium-high heat until the onions are slightly browned (4-6 minutes).

Once the onions are slightly browned, add 2 teaspoon ginger garlic paste and fry for 2 minutes.

Add ½ cup sliced tomatoes and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Add 1 teaspoon coriander powder, 2 teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder, ½ teaspoon turmeric powder, and 2 teaspoon garam masala powder and fry for another minute.

Now add the coconut paste that we made earlier along with 2 cups of water. Add salt to taste.

Close the lid of the cooker and pressure cook for 2 whistles on medium-high heat. Remove the cooker from heat and let the pressure release naturally and then open the lid.

Garnish with 2 tablespoon chopped fresh coriander and serve hot.

Note -To make salsa in an instant pot, press SAUTE and follow the steps until the lid of the cooker is closed. Now Press CANCEL and then press PRESSURE COOk. Set the timer to 4 minutes. Once the timer goes off, let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes. Release the remaining pressure manually and open the lid.

Pro Tips by Neha

You can add a few mutton and chicken pieces to the salna before pressure cooking. Then either serve the salna with them or remove them and use them in other recipes. They add flavor to empty salna.

You can increase or decrease the amount of chili peppers as per your preference.

You can swap cashew nuts with peanuts or roasted gram.

Salna v/s Salan

These two recipes, salna, and salan look so similar in terms of color and consistency but are very different in terms of taste.

One of the main differences is the use of peanuts. In salan, it is one of the most ingredients and the thickness is achieved with the use of peanuts whereas, in salna, the thickness is achieved with the use of tomatoes and onions.

In salna, fresh coconut is used to make a paste and in salan, dry coconut is used. Though these differences are subtle, it does bring a lot of change in taste.

Serving Suggestions

Salna parotta is a popular combination, so serve salna with some hot and flaky Malabar parotta. You can also serve it with tawa paratha or lachha paratha or just serve it with some South Indian mixed rice recipe.

It also tastes great with chapathi, plain dosa, appam, ghee roast dosa, neer dosa, idiyappam, and idli.

This salna gravy is also used to make kothu Paratha, so in case you have some leftover curry, you can try that recipe too.

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