How to beat the onion crisis with these 'No-onion' recipes

“Who moved my onion?”, “Onion may touch Rs.100/kg by Puja”, “Onion free with purchase of tyres”, “Know your onions”, “Amid LOC firing, India plans to buy onions from Pakistan”, “Soaring onion prices brings tears across India”-these are all the headlines the humble onion is making in newspapers across India!

Get on to any social networking site and you’ll find hundreds of ‘original’ teary jokes and see ‘rings’ with the onion taking the pride of place instead of a diamond! So much brouhaha over the price of one of the most essential ingredient in most menus seems justified. Jokes apart, yes, they do make you cry when you have them and also when you don’t!!

I’m not a student of economics, but here’s a thought-if the demand for onions falls, won’t the rates too take a dive? What if we all use onions sparingly? Normally where you would need 2-3 onions/ day what if you can make do with just 1 onion in two days? How???? For starters, try making your regular dishes by reducing the amount of onions or even omitting the onion altogether or the next simple alternative: prepare dishes that don’t need onions!

Is that possible? Cooking Indian food without onions?? Of course it is- there are many communities who make delicious food without onions or garlic. Even Ayurveda advocates the ‘Satvik diet’ in which pungent foods like onion, garlic, green chilli and others are not recommended!

Here’s what I do- make dishes that does not require onions, simple! It’s not impossible-think about it. There are dishes in your menu books or that you regularly make which do not require onions-just make these dishes till the onion prices fall, which it will eventually. I’m sure most people are already doing the same, for those at a loss here are a few dishes that you can try out for the next few days:

Read more: Face the onion crisis with these 'No-Onion' dishes. Published in Citizen Matters (26th August 2013)

Sweet Mango Dosa

Mango Dosa

It's mango season,and I just had to try something different.I tweaked this traditional Manglorean(a small seaside town in South India that my side of the family is originally from)Sweet Dosa recipe and added mangoes instead of cucumbers.As a kid,I grew up watching my mom and gran starting the next day's breakfast preparations a day in advance.We always woke up smelling the wonderful aromas wafting from the kitchen. This recipe too is no exception,I had to soak the rice once we were done with breakfast,grind it in the evening and let it ferment overnight,and voila the batter for the next day's breakfast was ready.
Traditionally it's made with either Southekai(Kannada for cucumber) or with watermelon. Otherwise it has all the original ingredients like:Beaten/Flattened Rice: 'Poha' is rice that is dehusked and then flattened into light flakes. Traditionally flattened with iron rods,it used to contain more iron than regular rice.
Jaggery: or 'gur',is a traditional non-refined sugar(made from either cane sugar or from date palm) which is rich in non-heme iron and other mineral salts.
Fenugreek seeds: 'Methi' seeds as it's commonly known in India, is a known galactagogue and recent studies have shown that it has cholesterol and serum glucose lowering properties as well.
Ingredients:

• Rice: 1 cup
• Flattened rice/Poha: 1/2 cup
• Jaggery(scraped): 3/4th cup (or sugar-1/2 cup)
• Yogurt(preferably homemade)-1/2 cup
• Fenugreek/Methi seeds-1/2 teaspoon
• Ripe Mango:1 big or 2 small
• Salt:1/2 teaspoon

Method:

1. Wash the rice and the fenugreek seeds,then soak it in water for at least 6-7 hours.
2. Wash and drain the flattened rice and let it stand for about 10-15 mins.
3. Grind all ingredients(except the mango) till you get a fine batter.Let it ferment for at least 8-9 hours or overnight(works well in warm weather). The batter will double in volume.
4. Make a puree of the mango pulp(when sugar is added to this pulp,it's called 'aamras').If using cucumber instead of mangoes,then grate half (a big) cucumber and mix with the batter.
5. Mix this puree with the batter and pour a ladle of the batter onto a hot non-stick pan and spread.
6. Cover with a lid and cook on medium flame for two or three minutes. Then cook uncovered till the dosa is done.
7. Serve hot(you can serve it with cut mangoes or even with some 'aamras').

Note:

1. If the weather is not warm enough(as was the case when I made it),the batter will not ferment and the dosa will not get tiny little holes on it( the dosa will be flat as seen in the snap).
2. The jaggery tends to add a brownish colour to the dosa(if you add sugar,the dosa will turn out a lovely yellow colour) but the dosas are more nutritious when made with jaggery.
3. Traditionally the dosa is eaten hot with a little ghee spread on top. Since the dosas are sweet, you can eat it as it is.
4. I used the Scarlet Sweet mango for this recipe,you could use any of the sweet mangoes available.