Salna

Ingredients

• - thin meat or vegetable gravy as main
• - Oil or ghee for cooking
• - Spices as required
• - Salt to taste
• - Fresh coriander

Method

1. Make salna base: Heat 3 tbsp oil in a heavy pan. Add 2 large finely chopped onions and cook 12 minutes until golden.
2. Add ginger-garlic: Add 1.5 tbsp ginger-garlic paste. Fry 2 minutes.
3. Make fresh masala paste: Blend half cup fresh grated coconut, 15 soaked cashews, 3 green chillies, 1 tsp fennel seeds and 1 small cinnamon to a smooth paste.
4. Add tomatoes: Add 3 chopped tomatoes. Cook 8 minutes until oil separates.
5. Add spice powders: Add 1 tsp red chilli powder, 1 tsp coriander powder and half tsp turmeric. Fry 3 minutes.
6. Add coconut-cashew paste: Add the masala paste. Fry 8-10 minutes until oil separates completely.
7. Add water: Add 2.5 cups warm water and salt. Bring to a boil.
8. Simmer long: Cook on medium heat 15-20 minutes until the salna is thick, creamy and a beautiful golden colour.
9. Add garam masala: Add 1 tsp garam masala. Stir well.
10. Serve: Adjust salt. Salna is a Tamil Nadu street-food gravy meant for dunking parotta. It should be thick enough to coat a parotta piece but still saucy. Serve with parotta.