Indian Onion Salad Laccha Pyaz Greenbowl2Soul

What’s needed to make Indian onion salad?

For this Indian onion salad recipe you will need the ingredients shown below: This spicy onion salad is also known as laccha pyaz or masala pyaz. Laccha is the Hindi word for ring, masala for spice, and pyaz for onion. It’s a North Indian recipe that can be served with almost every savory North Indian meal.

Ingredient notes and substitute suggestions

Onion: Use medium red onions to make laccha pyaaz. Choose firm even-sized onions that can give you perfect rings. Don’t use yellow or white onions in this recipe. Lime juice: Generally, lime juice is added to Indian onion salad but you can add lemon juice too. Green chilies: Adding green chilies is optional. You can also skip adding them if you want the salad to be less spicy. If adding chilies, chop them into very fine pieces so that you don’t get large pieces of hot chilies in your mouth. For less heat, remove the seeds. Fresh herbs: Fresh cilantro( coriander leaves) and fresh mint leaves are the most commonly used herbs in Indian salads. You can add very finely chopped green onion too. You can also make this salad without the herbs. Roasted cumin powder: Don’t use regular ground cumin. Roasted cumin powder tastes different and better in salads and chaats. If you don’t have the roasted cumin, dry roast the regular cumin powder in a pan on a low flame for a few seconds i.e. until it becomes fragrant and changes color to darker brown. You can also dry roast cumin seeds for a few minutes, allow them to reach room temperature, and then grind to make roasted cumin powder. Ice cold water: Ice cold water is used to soak the onion rings as they become more crunchy and refreshing after getting soaked. It also slightly reduces the sharpness of onions. Chaat masala: It’s a delicious tangy blend of Indian spices that’s used to flavor a lot of savory street food, snacks, and salads. You can easily find it in the spice section of an Indian grocery store. Chaat masala is available online too. Black salt: It’s a type of volcanic rock salt mainly found in the Himalayan region of India and other countries in the region like Pakistan and Nepal. It’s also called kala namak and has a pungent sulphuric taste. The whole rock appears black but when you grind it, it may sometimes turn pink. Don’t mix it with Himalayan Pink salt (sendha namak) as they both are different. You will easily find it in Indian grocery stores or online. Kashmiri red chili powder: Generally, Kashmiri red chilli powder is used in salads as it’s mild but gives the dish a bright red color. You can use any red chili powder depending on how much heat you want to add to the salad.

Other ingredient details and nutritional information are shared in the recipe card.

How to make (step by step process)?

To make this easy salad, just follow the simple step-by-step instructions shared below: Step 1: Peel and wash the onions. Cut them into around ½ cm thick rings. Gently separate the rings using your fingers. Step 2: Put the onion rings in ice-cold water for at least 15 minutes. If you leave them for a longer period i.e. around 30 minutes, you will get better results. Soaking in ice-cold water will give you crunchy onion rings. The pungent taste of raw onions will also get milder after soaking. Step 3: Strain the onions and discard the water. Leave them in the strainer for a few minutes to make sure that no water is left in them. You can also gently pat them dry with a clean kitchen towel. Step 4: In a bowl, mix roasted cumin powder, chaat masala, black salt, crushed black peppercorns, and Kashmiri red chili powder to make a spice blend. Keep it aside. Step 5: Put onion rings in a large bowl, sprinkle spice mix, add finely chopped cilantro, mint leaves, and green chili peppers. Squeeze fresh lime juice on top. Step 6: Gently toss. Check and adjust the seasoning. Your crunchy, spicy, Indian-style onion salad is ready to be served!

Serving laccha pyaz

Serve lachha pyaaz chilled or at room temperature. This simple salad is a perfect side dish for any North Indian-style savory meal. It’s a perfect accompaniment for spicy curries like mushroom masala, paneer butter masala, vegetable curry, chana masala, mixed bean curry, dal makhani, rajma masala, etc. Even a simple Indian meal of dal chawal tastes great with some laccha pyaz on the side. This refreshing side dish is also served with a lot of Indian snacks especially tandoori snacks like tandoori aloo, paneer tikka, etc.

Storing the leftover salad

Make this salad fresh. It’s best to consume it within 1-2 hours of making as the onions will start releasing water after some time and won’t remain crunchy. If you want to do some preparation in advance, cut the onion rings and leave them soaked in ice cold water in the fridge. Take out and strain when you are planning to serve the salad and then mix the remaining ingredients.

Recipe tips, tricks, and variation suggestions

Pick small or medium-sized red onions for this recipe. I prefer thick onion rings in this pyaaz salad, you can make thin rings too if you prefer that. Onion slices can be used too instead of onion rings. If you don’t want to make onion rings, make vertical onion slices and use them. After straining, make sure there is no water left in the onion before adding them to the salad. You can pat dry them with a clean kitchen towel to get rid of water. Chaat masala also has salt in it so add extra salt carefully. Adjust the quantity of seasonings to suit your taste.

Frequently asked questions

More Indian salad recipes

If you liked this quick side dish recipe from India and looking for more easy and refreshing Indian salad recipes then don’t miss to check out the following links:

Kachumber salad Indian chickpea salad Roasted peanut salad Masala corn South Indian style peanut salad Spicy Indian baby potato salad Indian kidney bean salad