Youths enjoy phuchkas sans onions at Mauryalok. Picture by Jai Prakash

Guddu, a phuchka seller near Mauryalok, has stopped using onions in the mixture he serves his customers, claiming that it is inauspicious to have the vegetable in the holy month of Karthik.

The real reason, however, is that onions are unholy to his budget because of the sudden rise in the price of the vegetable over the last week. “Earlier, I used to prepare the mixture for phuchkas with potatoes, onions, chat masala, tamarind pulp and mint chutney. Now, I have stopped using onions,” said Guddu.

Asked why he is abjuring the essential vegetable, the phuchka seller said: “It’s inauspicious to have onions in Karthik.”

But Vikas Kumar, a fellow phuchka seller, called his bluff. “I’m also giving the same excuse to my customers but the truth is I cannot afford onions,” he said. “Many customers ask for extra onions in the mixture. But with the rising price of the vegetable, we can no longer meet their demand.”

Like phuchkas, the traditional dish of the state — litti chokha — is also missing onions.

Pramod Kumar, a vendor who sells the popular snack near Gandhi Maidan, said: “I used to serve onions with litti-chokha to my customers. But the rising price of onions has forced me to stop it. Now, I am giving them tamarind chutney with jaggery.”

The famous chaat of Patna Market, too, has lost a bit of its flavour along with onions.

Arun Kumar, the owner of a chaat shop, said: “We used to give onion toppings for our chaats. But now we have stopped that. Some customers asked us to give onion toppings but we clearly said we would not.”

For lovers of street food, the missing onion has taken the zing out of their favourite tidbits.

Anjali Singh, a 22-year-old college student who hangs out at Mauryalok with her friends, said: “Eating phuchka without onions is only half the fun. I had an argument with the phuchka seller at Mauryalok about this.”

But from street to homes, everyone is looking for onion alternatives. The price of the vegetable on Thursday was Rs 90-100 per kg.

Some homemakers have started to use sauces instead of onions. Kadamkuan resident Sarita Srivastava said: “For the last two weeks, I am making dishes like baked vegetables that do not need onions and are healthy as well.”

Food experts are being badgered by friends and relatives to suggest recipes that don’t use the pricey vegetable. (See graphic)

The high price of onions has sparked jokes among Facebook friends. One of the popular status messages doing the rounds is: “Yeh onion mujhe de de Thakur (Give me these onions Thakur — a witty take on the popular dialogue of silver screen villain Gabbar Singh from Sholay, 1975).”

What are you doing to cut down on the use of onions? Tell ttbihar@abp.in