Which One Do You Prefer - Shallots Or Onions?

 

Last day when I bought shallots from market, I found that shallots’ price has noticed a sudden rise. Its price has reached 90 rupees per kg while onions stay comfortably around 25.  Yet I can’t substitute shallots with onions in all cases. So, I purchased half kilo for my dish. Shallots and Onions – Though they look similar, bring tears to our eyes and have similar taste and pungent smell they are different from each other. North Indians prefer onions while south Indians like to use shallots for chicken and sambar. So Onions can be regarded as North Indian lobby while Shallots belong to south. Onions resemble shallots very much. Main difference is that shallots are small while onions are big.

 

Advantages of shallots over onions

 

Main advantage is that shallots are tastier than onions. Majority of North Indians have not seen onions at least once in their life time and are unaware of its health benefits. Though both onions and shallots have some medicinal values and they mutually share certain properties, in medicinal values shallots have an upper hand. Not only for cuts and high blood pressure, in many other ways also shallots have more quality comparing shallots. Pungent smell intensifies in shallots than onions.

 

If we solely discuss about the taste differences between these two and which one is better, shallots will come first. I have often noticed the difference in taste while I use shallots or onions. Onions have a slight sugar taste and hence its dishes will show slight sweet taste. But if you substitute onions with shallots, you can notice the difference. The dish will never show the tilt towards sweetness and that’s the main reason why many grandmas only prefer shallots while preparing their traditional dishes like chicken or sambaar. Yes, sambaar and meat dishes (mutton/beaf/chicken) taste best if you use shallots instead of onions. It may take a little time to peel its outer cover, yet the taste it gives is graceful.

 

It can’t deny the fact that onion also adds its distinct flavours to dishes, particularly north Indian side dishes. It’s easy to clean and chop too. Also the use of shallots and onions can easily distinguish south Indian dish from North Indian. Yet in many north Indian homes, shallots are also used as it offers tastier dishes. Shallots’ price is also bit high in North India and not available in all places.    

 

Onions are more popular nowadays

 

Now it’s instant time and everyone want fast products. No one has time in hand. So, even though everyone knows the true values and tastes of shallots, they too are preferring onions for their dishes, because it saves a lot of time of preparation. In chutneys also, people now prefer to grind onions than shallots as it is easy process, even for sambaars!  In my childhood days, onions were not common in markets of villages. I belong to South India. But now, shallots are not common even in remote villages. Time has taken a trend change.  

Article Posted By : Sandhya RanilView All Articles

I prefer shallots only for chicken/mutton curry

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shallots , onions , shallots and onions

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