Indian cooking
Indian cooking / Dishes / Sirkewalla Pyaz
Sirkewalla Pyaz (Spiced Pickled Red Onions)

Sirkewalla Pyaz

Spiced Pickled Red Onions
Vegetarian

A sharp, tangy Indian-style pickle of red onions softened in lemon juice and salt, finished with chilli, cumin and coriander. It is gently spicy and fresh-tasting.

Serving spices

2.4 gScattered over the onions just before serving (step 4)
02
Cumin seed · Jeeracoarsely crushed
1.1 g½ teaspoon
spice
Mix the chilli powder and crushed cumin; scatter over the onions at serving.

Everything else

01
Red onion · Pyazthinly sliced
300 g
vegetable
02
50 g1 lemon
fruit
03
~0.3 g1 pinch
salt
04
Coriander leaf · Hara Dhaniafinely chopped, to garnish
1 g1 tablespoon
herb

Method

  1. Put 300 g red onion in a large bowl.
  2. Add 50 g lemon juice and 0.3 g salt and toss to coat.
  3. Leave for 2–3 hours at room temperature, or refrigerate overnight, until the onions soften and turn deep purple.
  4. Just before serving, scatter the serving spices over the onions.
  5. Add 1 g coriander leaf and mix well.

Don't have something?

Red onion
  • Onion

    Use the same weight; cook a little longer. Milder and less sweet when raw.

  • Shallot

    Use the same weight; sweeter and softer, so reduce cooking time slightly.

  • Spring onion

    Use only the white parts, weight for weight, for raw or quick-cooked dishes; green parts are too grassy for long cooking.

Lemon
  • Lime

    Use the same weight or juice amount; sharper, so taste before adding all the juice.

  • Lemon juice

    Use about 45–50 ml for 1 lemon; add off the heat to keep the freshness.

  • Dried mango powder

    Use 1 tsp for the juice of 1 lemon; add early. Sourness is flatter and less fresh.

Kashmiri chilli powder
  • Dried kashmiri chilli

    Grind deseeded dried pods to an equal weight of powder; gives identical vivid red colour and gentle warmth.

  • Red chilli powder

    Use 25% of the weight mixed with sweet paprika for colour; straight red chilli powder is substantially hotter and will make the dish fiery.

  • Chilli powder

    Use one-third of the weight; the sauce will be less intensely red and notably sharper in heat.

Cumin seed
  • Ground cumin

    Use 70% of the weight; add with ground spices or sauce bases rather than hot oil tempering, where it scorches quickly and turns bitter.

  • Black cumin seeds

    Use equal weight for oil tempering. Delivers an earthy profile with an additional musky, smoky, and slightly bitter edge.

  • Fennel seed

    Use 60% of the weight for tempering; offers comparable warm aroma, but leans sweet and liquorice-like rather than savoury and earthy.

Coriander leaf
  • Coriander

    Use equal weight finely chopped; this is the exact same fresh herb.

  • Mint

    Use half the weight finely chopped; provides vibrant green freshness, though the flavour profile becomes noticeably cooler and sharper.

Similar dishes

Lacchewalle Pyaz
Pickled Onions with Chaat Masala, Black Salt and Lemon
It tastes saltier and savoury from black salt and chaat masala, sweeter from sugar, and more coriander-forward than this dish, with the same mild Kashmiri chilli heat.
  • Same: Lacchewalle Pyaz shares a lemon-juice pickle base of red onion and Kashmiri chilli powder with this dish.
  • Different: It uses chaat masala, black salt, sugar and 30 g coriander leaf instead of this dish's regular salt, cumin seed and 1 g coriander leaf, and it uses 200 g red onion to this dish's 300 g.
Awadh Imliwali Pyaz
Red Onion, Tomato & Tamarind Chutney
Awadh Imliwali Pyaz tastes sweet-sour and savoury from tamarind, sugar and garlicky curry-leaf tempering, whereas this dish is sharper and fresher from lemon juice with only gentle chilli heat.
  • Same: Awadh Imliwali Pyaz shares red onion, Kashmiri chilli powder, cumin seed and coriander with this dish, and both are tangy Indian onion condiments.
  • Different: Awadh Imliwali Pyaz adds tomato, tamarind paste, caster sugar, vegetable oil, garlic, curry leaf, black peppercorn and dried red chilli and is a cooked tempered chutney, while this dish is a raw lemon-and-salt macerated onion pickle with no oil.
Pyaz ka Achar
Onion Pickle
Pyaz ka Achar tastes sweet, tangy and pungent from jaggery, vinegar and garlic, while this dish tastes sharp, tangy and fresh from lemon.
  • Same: Pyaz ka Achar shares with this dish the use of onions, chilli powder, cumin seed and salt as a spiced onion pickle.
  • Different: Pyaz ka Achar uses baby onions, malt vinegar, jaggery, garlic and garam masala, while this dish uses red onion, lemon juice and coriander leaf.
Bhindi Pyaz
Crispy Okra with Onions
Bhindi Pyaz tastes savory and oily with browned sweet onion and green-chilli heat, while this dish tastes sharp, tangy and fresh from lemon.
  • Same: Bhindi Pyaz shares onion, cumin seed and salt with this dish.
  • Different: Bhindi Pyaz adds okra, vegetable oil and green chilli and lacks this dish's lemon juice, Kashmiri chilli powder and coriander leaf; it is a cooked dry curry, not a lemon-softened pickle.