Indian Cooking Tips: How To Make South Indian-Style Chicken Salna (Recipe Inside)

Indian food is as diverse and vibrant as the country itself, and it keeps on changing from one region to another with distinctive cooking styles and techniques. For instance, North Indian cuisine involves a predominant boast of bold spices, whereas South Indian cuisine comparatively has a mellow touch that involves the usage of local ingredients like seeds, whole spices and coconut oil. Be it a classic chicken chettinad or extravagant Hyderabadi dum murgh or Andhra-style chicken curry, South Indian food is known for its unique flavors and aroma. In this article, we will introduce you to one such aromatic recipe from much admired South Indian cuisine and that is chicken salna.

Also Read: 11 Best South Indian Curries You Can Try At Home

Chicken Salna is a well-known street side dish in southern parts of Tamil Nadu. Simple, quick and easy-to-make, salna is a thin gravy usually made with mutton or chicken stock. People in south India like to accompany salna with their staple, crispy and fluffy parotta dunked into the salna gravy, or with biryani and even idly. This recipe will leave you slurping for sure! So, without any further ado, let’s learn how to make Chicken Salna, the south Indian style!

Here’s how you can make Chicken Salna | Chicken Salna Recipe

To begin with the recipe, heat oil in a pan and add dry ingredients like cinnamon, cardamom, fennel seeds, cumins seeds along with the cloves of garlic. Let them splutter on a low flame until they turn fragrant and brown. Now, add sliced coconut along with some peanuts and roast for a minute. After roasting, set aside to cool.

Now for the gravy – blend all the dry ingredients in a blender with water as required. Then heat oil in a pan and add sliced onions, curry leaves followed by salt according to taste. Saute for a few minutes until onions get translucent and soft. Now, add in roughly chopped tomatoes and cover the lid for a few minutes. Add turmeric powder, curry powder and chicken pieces. Mix all the ingredients well.

The final step is to add prepared ground paste into the chicken and water as required and cover the lid for about 15-20 minutes or pressure cook it for 10-15 minutes. Garnish it with coriander leaves, mint leaves and gulp it down with parotta, dosa and idli or biryani.

Click here for the recipe of chicken salana, parotta and idli.

Try this flavourful chicken salna recipe at home and let us know how you liked it in the comment section below.