Good Luck Cafe has stopped serving onions with the food. Renowned for delectable chicken goodies, its customers are having a tough time going without the tangy onion flavour in their tangdi kababs. To add insult to the injury, they now accessorize with watery cucumbers.
“Didn’t I hear Maharashtra is the major onion producer in India?” cried out a victim the other day. “Sure doesn’t look like it to me!”
Indeed, a large proportion of the delicious onions you gorge upon comes from Nashik, Ahmednagar, Satara and the Pune district. But owing to the cats and dogs it has been raining lately, the yield has been hugely damaged. But naturally, the supply of fresh onion has gone down.
A rattled house wife was found screaming at a vendor. “My husband adores green peas you mutt! And because they were priced a loot we switched to onions and you say they cost 70 a kilo? Am I so gullible a fool?” While the vendor’s patronizing smile and rather dirty dressing may have had something to do with the outburst, but the fact remains: onions have out priced green peas which you can easily buy for around 50 a kg.
Restaurants have cut down on onion utthapa orders. “We have a supply crunch you see.” claimed the owner of a fancy restaurant in Deep Bungalow Chowk. “Why don’t you try our red and green mushroom dosa instead? It’s a Christmas special…”
“I wish it was raining here…” smiled a young girl holding on to her Daddy’s hand. “I have been hearing about rains everywhere else.”
The Government has put a rein on exports and has promised restoration within a week. Looking at market fluctuations, it seems probable that our very own pink onions will be affordable again soon.
Until then, here’s a visual treat to suffice.
Of Paneer, Pulao and Pune 
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Nice talk about onions. Christmas and now new year approaching. How could one do without onions? And then there is my mother’s wise sayings – you new people feel that the more onion you use the better would your curry be. We used to cook without onion and garlic and our meal was much more tastier. I would say she is right. I know it would be a bit tough. But it is not impossible to cook good food without them.
Indeed Aditya. Onions are such an intrinsic part of curries. My nani is also a staunch believer in ‘the more the onion, the better the chicken’ theory. And I agree with her one hundred percent.
But yes, I guess some people can make do without them without the taste being affected… maybe I should also take some lessons.