Today I am sharing yet another simple but a really flavorful recipe – Empty Salna or Plain Salna that goes well as a side dish with Parotta or Biriyani. In most restaurants across Tamilnadu, it is easy to find Vegetable Salna being served. The other Salna variations like Mushroom Salna, Muttai Salna are too specific and are not so easily found. But Empty Salna is quite popular across street vendors and road-kadai – pushcarts selling food during the evenings going into late nights. I remember this one time when we were boarding a train from my husband’s hometown - Tuticorin (Thootukudi) to Chennai and there was no way for us to pack food from home. The husband brought a pack of Parottas tightly wrapped in banana leaf which had a large ladle of Empty Salna poured all over it. Within few minutes, the hot parottas had soaked up all the flavors of the Salna and were a flavor bomb! I later realized that it is called as Kizhi Parotta – a recipe for some other day. Anyway, I digress.
Empty Salna – as the name suggests, it is plain or empty. There are no vegetables or meat added to the gravy. The base of the gravy mainly contains a fresh ground spice paste cooked in a mixture of onions and tomatoes. Sometimes however, meat pieces cooked along with the Salna are removed to make it Plain Salna – this is done for two reasons. 1. To make the Salna more flavorful by cooking it with some meat. 2. To reduce the cost of the dish and to be able to keep it economical. So you should always be careful when you are ordering Empty Salna in a road kadai/street side push cart especially in South Tamilnadu if you don’t consume meat. That’s also why I end up making my own in my kitchen, easier and safer given the current circumstances. While you are here, be sure to check out other Salna & Kurma Recipes here –
Mushroom Salna Vegetable Salna Egg Salna Vegetable Kurma Vellai Kurma
📖 Recipe
To prepare the salna masala – In a pan, heat oil. Add fennel seeds, coriander seeds, cut green chillies and garlic cloves. Fry for a few seconds.
Next add roughly chopped onions and tomatoes. Fry for a couple of minutes.
Keep it covered and cook on low flame for 6-7 mins. Remove from heat once the onions & tomatoes are soft. Add fried gram, poppy seeds, chopped coconut.
Once cooled down, grind into a smooth paste by adding water as needed. Set aside.
To make Empty Salna – In the same pan, heat oil. Add bay leaf, cinnamon stick, cardamom and cloves. Fry for a few secs and then add curry leaves.
Add finely chopped onions and fry until translucent.
Now add the prepared masala paste. Add 1 to 1.5 cups of water as needed. Cook for 4-5 mins on low flame.
Next add spice powders – red chilli powder, garam masala powders powder and turmeric powder. Cook for a couple of minutes.
Add salt as needed and chopped mint & coriander leaves.
Let the gravy come to a slow boil for about 10-12 mins. If needed, add more water to make it runny. As oil floats on top, remove from heat.
Serve hot with Parotta or any Indian bread or Idli or Dosa or Appam or or Biryani or Pulao.
Adjust spices as per preference. You can add your choice of veggies, protein to this basic Salna recipe.
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