Spring Onion Jhunka

Another acquired taste. Spring Onions were not freely available in Madras at one time. I remember attempting to make Chinese food merely because I’d found a bunch of spring onions. Now they’re freely available everywhere. And I couldn’t be happier. But there was a time when I hated Jhunka made with spring onions. I think it was merely because Amma would use up “my” spring onions to make “her” dish, that too an Indian one. When I look back, I realize what she must have gone through. Imagine when your daughter, in all her enthusiasm, picks up a bunch of spring onions, which are “exotic” to some extent and then goes back to being her normal lazy self, quite forgetting the bunch that’s beginning to wilt. What would you do? I think I’d make Jhunka!



1 bunch Spring Onions
1 tbsp Oil
¼ tsp Mustard
¼ tsp Asafoetida
1 tsp Chilli Powder
1 tsp Turmeric Powder
2 tbsp Gram Flour (Besan)
Salt to taste



Separate the whites and the greens and chop the spring onions finely.


Heat the oil in a kadhai. Add the mustard seeds and when they splutter, add the asafoetida. Add the onion whites and fry for a few minutes. Add the greens, salt, chilli and turmeric powders. Add the gram flour and cook for a couple of minutes. Serve hot.

I find this one of tastiest and easiest ways to use spring onions. I make it very often when these beauties are available in abundance. This pairs very well with rotis but tastes even better if you use it as a stuffing in a grilled sandwich. So, the next time life hands you spring onions, you know how to make jhunka!