Flowering Onion Stalk Palya

Flowering Onion Stalk Palya (pic by June Carvalho)

I'VE often wondered about the use of green flowering onion stalks found in the market once or twice a year. Thanks to my domestic help Ratna, I learnt how to transform them into a tasty dish using a few basic ingredients. Also, instead of coconut, roasted and crushed peanuts are used, which impart a slightly nutty and sweetish flavour to the dish. It goes well as a side with rice and curry and is particularly excellent with rotis. In Kannada, which is the language spoken in Karnataka, any preparation from vegetables, dry or semi-dry, is termed as a palya. 

Flowering Onion Stalks (pic by June Carvalho)

What you need:

A small bunch of flowering onion stalks
1 onion, chopped
3 flakes of garlic, chopped fine
1 sprig curry leaves
2 tbsps groundnuts, roasted and skinned
1 tbsp cooking oil
Salt to taste

Snip off the flowers from the onion stalks and discard them. Chop the onion stalks fine, as you might do for a beans foogath. Crush the roasted and skinned groundnuts.

Heat oil in a utensil and add the curry leaves, onion and garlic and cook till soft. Add the chopped onion stalks and the crushed groundnuts. Sprinkle salt and a little water. Stir, cover and cook till done.