Thursday, May 7, 2009

Cilantro Stuffed Onions (Bharela Kanda Nu Shaak)


This dish goes back a long time, i was first introduced to this dish during my visit to my aunts place in porbandar during summer vacations.  In Gujarati onions are also known as "Dungri" or "Kanda" and is one of the most important food in our diet. Onions have lots of health benefits including it reduces the risk of forming blood clots which is one of the main cause of heart attack. More info on onions you can find here . We make this dish once in a while as it takes little more time than usual to prepare this dish, but in the end all the efforts are worth while. I usually use small baby onions or small red onions to prepare this dish, avoid using large onions as it will require lot of time for them to get cooked. I love to have this dish with bhakri and jaggery...perfect dinner for a cold evening :) The below recipe serves 4.


Sending this dish to JFI-Cilantro hosted by Cilantro originally started by Indira also sending this to Village Special an event started by Shama. Sending this dish to Mom's Most Favorite Recipe event hosted by Shama as this dish is one of most favorite of my mom..:))








Ingredients for stuffing:
12 to 15 small baby onions or small red onions
1 cup chickpea flour or besan
1/2 cup cilantro finely chopped
1 tsp oil
1 tsp red chili powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp sugar
1 pinch of asafoetida
1 pinch of baking soda
Salt to taste
1 tbsp oil for cooking



Procedure:
  • In a vessel mix all the stuffing ingredients well and keep aside.
  • Slit the onions vertically and fill in the stuffing, make sure you do not put more pressure or else the onions will come apart.
  • Similarly fill in all the onions with the stuffing. There will be little stuffing left dont worry we will be using the same while cooking.
  • In a heavy bottom pan, use non stick pan, heat about 1 tbsp of oil and slowly add in the stuffed onions one by one.
  • Cover the pan with a dish or a plate and cook on slow heat for about 20 to 25 mins until they are half way cooked. If required add little water in the dish.
  • Do stir the onions every few mins just to make sure they dont get burnt. Stir it very carefully so as not to tear then apart.
  • Now add in the remaining stuffing masala and again cover and cook for around 20 mins or until done. 
  • Serve hot with bhakri or rotis.

This dish is off to Flavors Of Gujarat event by Nayna


34 comments:

  1. I am not a big fan of Onions, but K is guess I will it for him... looks really nice and colorful....

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh my!! I would love to make this, I love soft onion dishes. Excellent entry, bookmarked to try when I get time!:)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow.. a dish made just with onions!
    very unique dish, and tempting to try :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I always love small (sambar)onions.
    When I saw cilantro in stuffing I became happy. I should try this. slurp! Tasty cilantro stuffed onions.:)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow, something totally new to me. Got to try it. Will keep u posted on the outcome.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thank you dears for such lovely words :)

    @munchcrunchandsuch pls do try these and let me know...i promise you will love it :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Stuffed Onions ...its new to me...I will try it sometimes, I love onions:))

    ReplyDelete
  8. Very unique dish Parita,stuffed onions quite a new dish!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi Parita, tht's an awesome dish and lovely entry!

    ReplyDelete
  10. A very new dish to me .... I love onions ... raw or cooked ...will definitely try and let u know :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. My curries are incomplete without the onions,but never thought of stuffing them though.thanks for sharing this unique recipe:)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Great recipe Parita, very new to me, looks delicious too :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Nice entry and is something new to me. First time to your blog, bookmarked it and will be coming regularly now. You've got a wonderful collection of recipes here :-D

    ReplyDelete
  14. Never heard of stuffed onion, very interesting recipe. Good pictures.

    ReplyDelete
  15. This is new to me,would love to try the recipe.Thanx for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I just love these shallots/onion..Very unique and interesting recepie..Thx for sharing

    ReplyDelete
  17. Wow stuffed onions! I love it :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. oh this is avery new and a deliciious recipe..good one Parita..

    ReplyDelete
  19. Hi Paritha,
    yet another attention grabbing dish from u :) hadn't heard of this one ...my hubby loves onions...so bookmarked for T&T.
    TC

    ReplyDelete
  20. WOW a great recipe. i will bookmark this and make this when i get time. my hubby will love this.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Never tasted tstuffed onions..am sure it will be delcious

    ReplyDelete
  22. Thanks for stopping by my blog, Parita. This dish sounds wonderful!! Am book marking this.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Hi parita!
    Have never tasted such a dish!
    loved your blog description.. :)

    ReplyDelete
  24. I love the look of this dish... shall try it sometime :)

    ReplyDelete
  25. Looks delicious :)
    Your blog really looks so nice :) Good one. Keep it up!!

    ReplyDelete
  26. i love onions, i use them a lot in my cooking, when i was going through ur blog i just got so carried away...i forgot to write this was the first time i came to your blog, ur blog is very nice, when i was reading about me, what interested me in it was, baking..., now i really needed to see what all u have baked, because just now i have started baking and really enjoy it, only thing is do not eat anything i bake just a bit to taste !!, i am scared of butter used in them !!, will increase my cholesterol level !!, with the cakes, i slowly drifted to my way of cooking, which i can really relish.., and this seems to be a very interesting dish..., not a lot of oil required and something spicy... Guess what ? i never knew how to bookmark anything just now my daughter taught me this and urs was the first dish i bookmarked..

    ReplyDelete
  27. hi jayasri..thanks dear...even m very scared of butter in cakes....hence i prepare my cakes using less or no butter at all..but sometimes you can use oil instead of butter, it'll give more moistness to the cake, hope this help...stuffed onions is not that spicy but u can adjust the taste according to ur taste buds :) do let me know how it turned out for u...

    ReplyDelete
  28. Wow this is new to me parita i have bookmarked certain recipes and following you. I am fan of onion and garlic i will try it out and le u know the outcome

    ReplyDelete
  29. wow! what a recipe! We have tried and everybody in family enjoyed.

    thank you,

    Gaurang Goradiya
    Website Developer in Mumbai
    Website - http://www.pushtiwebindia.com

    ReplyDelete
  30. Hi Parita,

    I love onions and cilantro...so i am guessing this is gonna be on my weeknd menu. Shall try it soon and let u know.

    Shobha

    ReplyDelete
  31. That looks delicious, Parita!

    ReplyDelete
  32. quite interesting. Besides I guess you can take this to any level adding different ingredients. Thanks for Posting

    ReplyDelete
  33. Hi, how do you stuff onions? Do you remove some of the slits from within or do u just coat the onion halves?

    ReplyDelete
  34. delicious ...
    my hubby's favorite sabji...

    ReplyDelete

Welcome to my kitchen. Please feel free to pen down your suggestions and comments. If you have any questions or queries please email me at paritasworld@gmail.com or leave a comment. I will try to answer it as soon as possible. Hope you enjoyed your visit here :)