Hara Pyaz and Lehsun Patta: Spring Onion and Green Garlic Guide

Onion leaves are hollow tubes. Garlic leaves are flat, like grass. That one check tells hara pyaz (spring onion) and lehsun patta (green garlic) apart at the stall, even when they’re piled together. This guide covers picking both, spring onion storage, regrowing them in a glass of water, and how to use the whites and the greens differently, plus a winter chutney and two quick dishes with green garlic.

How to pick hara pyaz and lehsun patta

1. Tell them apart. Pinch a leaf. Hollow and round means onion. Flat and solid means garlic. Crush a leaf and smell it: the garlic smell is unmistakable.
2. Look at the greens. Bright, firm, upright leaves are fresh. Yellow tips are age, and a slimy feel means rot.
3. Check the whites. The base should be firm, white and clean, with fresh-looking roots. Soft, brown or wrinkled bases mean old stock.
4. Pick the size you need. Thin stems are tender and good raw. Thicker hara pyaz with a small round bulb is better for cooking. Lehsun patta with a bulging base is close to forming cloves; it’s stronger and a little tougher.
5. Skip flowering stalks in hara pyaz. A hard, thick central stalk with a bud on top means the plant is going to seed, and it’s woody.
6. Smell the bunch. Fresh and sharp is good. Sour or rotting means the inner leaves have spoiled.

Spring onion storage: three ways

Lehsun patta stores the same way. It can make the whole fridge smell of garlic, so a closed box is kinder to your milk and fruit. Frozen greens lose their crunch, so use them in sabzi, soup or eggs, not as a fresh garnish. For all other greens, see our leafy greens fridge guide.

Regrowing spring onions in water

It’s one of the easiest kitchen experiments there is.

1. Cut the spring onions about 3 to 5 cm above the roots. Use the tops for cooking.
2. Stand the root ends in a small glass with enough water to cover the roots, but not the whole white part.
3. Keep the glass near a bright window.
4. Change the water every 1 to 2 days. Cloudy, smelly water will rot the roots.
5. Shoots appear within days. Cut them when they’re 10 to 15 cm long, which usually takes about a week, and leave a centimetre or two of green above the white so the plant has something to push new growth from.
6. After 2 or 3 cuttings, the regrowth gets thin and pale, because the white base has used up the food it stored and water alone can’t replace it. Plant the roots in a pot of soil for sturdier regrowth, or start again with fresh ones.

Garlic works a little differently. A single garlic clove, pointed end up, in a pot of soil sends up green shoots in about a week or two, and you can snip those like chives. Growing true lehsun patta takes a few months in soil.

Whites vs greens: how to use each part

Hara pyaz

• Whites: mild, sweet and oniony. Cook them like regular onion, in a tarka, a stir-fry, pulao or anda bhurji.
• Light green middle: good cooked briefly, added in the last few minutes.
• Dark greens: fresh and grassy. Use raw as a garnish on dal, chaat, noodles and raita, or stir in right at the end.

Lehsun patta

• White base: like a gentle garlic clove. Chop and fry at the start.
• Leaves: milder, fresh garlic taste. Chop fine and add to saag, dal, paratha dough, egg dishes and chutney.
• Tough outer leaves: peel off if leathery.

Rinse both under running water, pulling the leaves apart a little at the base where soil hides, then trim the roots and any dry or yellow tips, and shake them dry before chopping so the pieces don’t clump together in the pan. Done.

Recipes

Hara pyaz aloo (serves 3)

Heat 1 tbsp oil, add ½ tsp zeera, then 2 medium potatoes cut in small cubes, ½ tsp haldi, ½ tsp red chilli and ½ tsp salt. Cover and cook on low for 10 to 12 minutes until soft. Add 1 bunch (about 150 g) chopped hara pyaz, whites first, greens a minute later. Cook 2 to 3 minutes more. Eat with roti.

Lehsun patta chutney (makes about ½ cup)

Blend 1 small bunch (about 50 g) lehsun patta, a handful of hara dhania, 1 or 2 green chillies, 1 tbsp lemon juice, ¼ tsp salt and 2 to 3 tbsp water until smooth. Keep it in the fridge in a clean jar and use within 2 days. This is a water-based chutney; don’t store it under oil at room temperature (see the caution below).

Hara pyaz anda bhurji (serves 2)

Fry the whites of 3 spring onions in 2 tsp oil for 1 minute. Add 1 chopped tomato, a pinch of haldi and salt, and cook until soft. Add 4 beaten eggs and stir until just set. Toss in the chopped greens and turn off the heat.

What they give you, honestly

Hara pyaz greens are low in calories and give some vitamin K, vitamin C and folate, and a little fibre. Lehsun patta carries some of the same sulphur compounds as mature garlic, which give it its smell, though in milder amounts. The portions we eat, a handful at a time, make them flavour-builders more than nutrition powerhouses. What’s hype: neither will lower blood pressure or cholesterol on its own. For mature garlic and what it really does, see our garlic raw vs cooked guide.

Myths and surprising facts

Myth: Spring onions are just unripe regular onions, so they’re the same thing

The truth: some hara pyaz is simply young bulb onion pulled early, but many bunches are varieties bred to stay slim and never form a big bulb. Either way, the leaves are much milder than a mature onion, and the greens bring vitamin K and C that a dry onion bulb doesn’t have much of. People mix them up because they’re the same species and smell alike.

Did you know?

• For people with IBS who react to onion, the dark green tops of spring onion are often much better tolerated than the white bulb, because the fermentable sugars that cause trouble sit mostly in the white part.
• Onion and garlic are close cousins, both in the Allium group, along with leeks and chives.

Skin and hair: what to know

Onion juice is a popular hair remedy; our hair fall guide covers what it can and can’t do. Don’t rub raw garlic or crushed green garlic on skin or pimples: raw garlic can cause chemical burns and blisters. If you try onion juice on your scalp, patch-test it behind the ear for 24 hours first, keep it off broken skin, rinse at once if it stings, and never mix in lemon juice before going into the sun, as citrus on skin plus sunlight can burn and darken it.

More seasonal guides are in our Fruits and Vegetables section.

Spring onion and green garlic: common questions