Indian Onion Masala Recipes

Let’s Talk About This Magical Sauce: Indian Onion Masala

Welcome to the Indian Onion Masala series here on My Heart Beets! I am on a mission to help you simplify Indian cooking, and having onion masala on hand is basically essential for those who want to enjoy fresh Indian food regularly, including busy weeknights.

First, read all about how to make my onion masala. Then make the recipes below using the masala!

Goals for this Series:

• To increase confidence in the kitchen – especially for those who aren’t as comfortable with Indian cuisine.
• To prove that it is possible to easily make healthy Indian recipes every day.
• To get you cooking more Indian meals!

After you make the recipes in this series, you should feel confident knowing how to replace onion/tomatoes in other recipes!

Start with these two posts about Indian Onion Masala:

• How to Make Indian Onion Masala
• How to Store Indian Onion Masala (get these silicone trays – they make it so easy to measure/freeze the masala – each little container is ¼ cup).

Recipes that Call for Indian Onion Masala:

Veggies

• Pav Bhaji
• Corn Kadai
• Indian Potatoes and Eggplant (Aloo Baingan Masala)
• Aloo Methi (Potatoes with Dried Fenugreek Leaves)
• Masala Pasta
• Indian Vegetable Lasagna
• Potato Pea Curry (Aloo Matar)
• Masala Stuffed Bitter Melon (Karela)
• Bhindi do Pyaza
• Zucchini Curry

Dal (Lentil Recipes) & Beans

• Langar Dal
• Spiced Yellow Lentils (Toor Dal)
• Pumpkin Dal
• Green Moong Dal
• Whole Masoor Dal/Brown Lentils
• Lauki Chana Dal
• Chana Dal
• Red Lentil Dal
• Sweet Potato Pie Dal
• Dal Tadka (Dal Fry)
• Rajma

Paneer

• Paneer Butter Masala
• Paneer Onion Masala Stir-fry
• Indo-Chinese Chilli Paneer (Dry)
• Palak Paneer
• Peach Paneer Curry
• Pumpkin Matar Paneer
  

Chicken & Eggs

• Chicken Curry
• Chicken Bhuna Masala
• Chicken Patiala
• Chicken Saag
• Spicy Chicken Liver Fry
• Whole Tandoori Chicken with Potato Curry
• Murgh Musallam (Masala Coated Whole Chicken)
• Chicken Vindaloo
• Indian Shakshuka
• Green Peas with Eggs (Sukhi Matar Anda Sabzi)
• Royal Egg Korma
• Chicken Karahi (Kadai Chicken)

Meat

• Keema
• Goat Curry

Seafood

• 1-minute Shrimp Curry

Bookmark this page – I will continue to update it as I add more recipes that call for onion masala!

How To Use this Masala in Other Recipes?

This will require some experimentation, but as you continue to make dishes, you’ll figure out how much to use. And chances are the dish will always turn out well even if it’s not perfect. I haven’t tested every recipe on my blog to determine the exact quantity of onion masala, but I’ll add them to this list as I test recipes and I’ll also add notes to the recipe itself.

When you use onion masala, you’ll want to use it in place of onions, garlic, ginger, tomatoes in a recipe. You may also need to adjust spices accordingly.

• Keema: use ½ cup of masala
• Goat Curry: use 1 cup of masala
• Rajma: use 1 cup of masala
• Butter Chicken: I’ve tested this with 1 cup and 1 ½ cups and while it makes the dish super easy to make (you just dump and cook everything for 10 minutes then QR), I have found that it is not as good as my original recipe.

Other Simple Ways to Use Indian Onion Masala:

You can use this masala to give extra oomph (flavor) to pretty much anything you make.

For example: add some masala when making a stir-fry; use it as an Indian tomato sauce on pizza (or add Italian herbs to it!); mix it with pasta; spread it on a sandwich; stir it into your scrambled eggs, etc.

Tell me how you use this masala sauce 🙂