What is Do Piyaz?

'Do' means double 'Piyaz' means onions. In Do Piyaz curries, half the amount is onions

Akbar the great, a Mughal ruler of India was served by a Khansama (cook) named Mullah Do-Piaza, who fried meat with a lot of onions. During Akbar period, dry stir-fried meat with a lots of onions came to be known as Do-Piyaz.

After Akbar, the Do-Piyaz dish was re-interpreted. In Hindi Do means two, or double. To make Do-Piyaz dish, you were supposed to use onions equaling two times the weight of meat. For example, you would use Two pounds of onions for One pound of meat.

Do Piyaz has been re-interpreted again, this time by restaurants in UK. Do Piyaz has become a modified Bhuna dish with onions added in two stages. Finely chopped onions are added in the beginning. Wide coarse chopped onions (sautéed/caramelized) are added near the end of cooking. Older interpretation of onions equaling two times the weight of meat is no longer valid. Now 'Do' (two) is interpreted as adding onions in two stages.

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