Stuffed Onion

Stuffed onion, also known as “bharva pyaz,” is a spicy and savory dish from the Indian cuisine, prepared by stuffing onions with several spices, seasonings, and other ingredients which may consist of chopped onions, ham, bacon, bread crumbs, cottage cheese, and mushrooms. The Indian recipe that mentions creating slits crosswise in onions and then stuffing them with several spices and seasonings is quite popular, and this dish is commonly eaten along with roti. A few recipes suggest filling the hollowed out onions with meat based or vegetable based stuffing, before baking them in oven. The roasted version of stuffed onions is also quite popular, which suggests roasting hollowed out onions before filling them with onion stuffing mix.

Apart from the various stuffed onion recipes, where onions are stuffed with distinct ingredients, one of the recipes also suggests stuffing the onions instead, in wheat flour based chapattis, and then shallow frying these onion stuffed chapattis. These stuffed flatbreads or chapattis are popularly known as paratha in India.     

Commonly Used Ingredients and Preparation Overview of Stuffed Onions

A popular Indian stuffed onion recipe suggests using peeled and washed small red onions, red chili powder, coriander powder, salt, fennel powder (saunf powder), dried mango powder (amchoor), turmeric powder, allspice (garam masala), and oil as the ingredients.

The preparation process suggests creating slits in onions crosswise, making sure not to separate the onions from base, and filling the onions with a mix of all other ingredients, apart from turmeric powder. The stuffed onions are then sautéed in a mix of oil and turmeric powder until roasted from all the sides, and served commonly with chapatti.

Stuffed Onion Recipe Variations

A few popular variations of stuffed onion have been discussed hereunder:

• Ham stuffed onions- the recipe for these stuffed onions suggests boiling onions in water after peeling them and getting rid of their tops, and then removing the center portion of the onions carefully, before stuffing the hollowed out onions with a mix of cooked minced ham, green bell pepper, bread crumbs, chopped onion centers, and seasonings. The stuffed onions are then baked after pouring white sauce or chicken broth around them in the baking tray and topping them with a mix of melted butter and breadcrumbs.  

• Stuffed onion rings- the recipe for this dish suggests stuffing onion rings (thick cup shaped onion slices) with a spicy onion stuffing made with chopped onions, mushrooms, cottage cheese (paneer), red capsicum, and several spices and seasonings, and then deep frying them in hot oil after dipping them in flour batter and rolling in breadcrumbs. The flour batter is made by combining together flour, salt, corn flour, and water.     

• Roasted stuffed onions- the preparation process suggests cutting off the tops of onions, and hollowing them from inside before roasting them until tender (making sure that the sides do not fall apart), and stuffing them with bacon mixture. The stuffed onions are then baked in oven after pouring over some chicken or turkey stock. The onion stuffing is prepared by combining together chopped onion centers, sliced bacon, celery, onions, seasonings, garlic, breadcrumbs, spinach, butter, cashews, and chicken or turkey stock.      

A Popular Indian Stuffed Onion Recipe Variant

Stuffed onion paratha- in the Indian cuisine, stuffed onion paratha is a popular breakfast item. The dish is made by stuffing a mixture of finely chopped onions, assorted spices, seasonings, green chilies, garlic, salt, pepper, cumin seeds, ginger, and garam masala in a rolled out wheat flour based dough. This spice mix is then sealed from all sides with the rolled out dough and then the dough is rolled out yet again with the spice mixture inside it. This is then shallow fried on a large skillet in some oil and served with butter. It is popularly known as Pyaz paratha.   

Serving Stuffed Onions

• Stuffed onions are perfect accompaniments to paratha or roti.

• The popular Indian stuffed onion paratha goes well along with tea or curd.

•  Stuffed onion pairs well with tamarind and date chutney.