Chicken Dopiaza with Small Onions

From the garden

• 2 lb small perennial onions (potato onions, walking onion topsets and their underground bulbs), peeled, half left whole and half sliced thin
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 medium ripe tomatoes, chopped
• ⅓ cup fresh cilantro, chopped

From the pantry

• 2 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 2-inch pieces
• 1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
• ½ cup plain yogurt, whisked smooth · full fat, and at room temperature so it does not split
• 4 tbsp neutral oil · divided
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1½ tsp chili powder
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp ground cloves
• 1½ cups long-grain rice · cooked, for serving
• salt · to taste
• black pepper

1. Drop the small onions into boiling water for 30 seconds and lift them straight out. The tight papery skins on marble-sized topsets and dug bulbs then slip off instead of being picked at one by one. Leave half of them whole with the root ends trimmed, and slice the other half thin.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a heavy pan over medium-high and fry the whole onions, turning now and then, until browned in patches, about 6 minutes. Lift them out and set aside. This is the half that goes back in at the end and stays sweet and separate.
3. Add the remaining oil and the sliced onions to the same pan with a pinch of salt and cook over medium, stirring often, until deep golden and jammy, 12–15 minutes. Stir in the garlic, ginger, cumin, chili powder, cinnamon and cloves and cook 1 minute more, until the spices smell toasted.
4. Add the tomatoes and cook 6–8 minutes, pressing them down, until they collapse and the oil beads at the edges. Lower the heat and stir in the yogurt a spoonful at a time, letting each one disappear before the next goes in.
5. Add the chicken, turn it through the masala with a splash of water, cover, and simmer gently 25 minutes, until tender. Fold the reserved whole onions back in for the last 5 minutes, only long enough to heat through without slumping.
6. Taste for salt, grind over black pepper, scatter the cilantro, and serve with rice.