When was the last time you visited any Indian restaurant? Did you get served red pickled onion as condiment before your food was served? Red pickled onion or Vinegar Onion or sirke wale pyaz (सिरके वाले प्याज ) is one thing that I ask as first thing in any Indian restaurant and generally I end up dishing that out with green chutney, and pickle, much before even starters are served.
These are small sized red onions which are immersed in white vinegar, owing to which these onions gather a unique sour taste. Whilst making a bit of sugar is added to elevate the level of taste to new heights with a combination of sweet and sour.

I very so often make these onions at home, but never got chance to click pictures and share the recipe. For me it was given that everyone knows this, till few of my contacts asked me for recipe of this pickled onion.

This pickled onion goes very well with rich punjabi or north-indian food, such as Matar Paneer, Punjabi Chole, Dal Makhni, Paneer tikka, Kadahi Paneer and even with non-vegetarian food like Tandoori Chicken, etc.
Pickled onions are not only restricted to Indian (Desi) food, but can also be added to salads, sandwiches, wraps, rolls and burgers. These onions simply magnifies the flavour and takes the dish to all new level.

Enough of pretext 🙂 now let me take to straight to detailed step by step recipe of pickled onion.
Once you have made these pickled onions you can easily store these for good few days, just keep shaking the jar at least once a day.
Pickled Onion | Sirke Wale Pyaz
Ingredients
- 500 Grams Baby Onion / Shallots
- 1/4 Cup White Vinegar
- 1.5 Teaspoon Salt
- 1 Tablespoon Sugar
- 2 Tablespoon Water
- 1/2 Beetroot
Instructions
- Peel the onions, wash and pat them dry.
- In a glass jar add vinegar, sugar, salt and water and mix well.
- Add beetroot pieces to the jar now.
- Add onions to it and close the lid of the jar. Give the jar a nice shake and keep it in a dry place.
- Your Pickled onions would be ready to eat in 3 hours. If you can leave for longer, it is even better.
Notes
- I have used shallots in this recipe as i couldn’t find baby onions where I live, but you can use baby onions too.
- You can skip adding beetroot to it. Beetroot is natural source of nice red colour. You can use artificial colour if you don’t want to use beetroot.
Nutrition
