How do you cook your Onions? If you are reading a post on a recipe blog, you probably enjoy cooking and read a lot of recipes. Question, on how many of these does it call for onions that are cooked without colouring? Or onions that are softened, or caramelised or browned,? And how often does the recipe give you a time? In April, 2003, the Guardian food writer Richard Erhlich, wrote a whole piece on this very subject. I hate to disagree with such an eminent figure but even he was wrong.
We all know onions add a great deal of flavour to your recipe. Cooking them correctly can completely enhance a dish. Adding sweetness and layers of nutty, caramel taste. Often recipes state a time that is simply not possible. To soften or caramelise a pan full of sliced onions can take over sixty minutes. But do people really want to cook a recipe where it could add up to an hour to the cooking time? A good French Onion soup, Goulash, or a great many Indian restaurant style curries all depend on a heap of onions cooked lovingly and slowly. I cooked a delicious Chicken Saag yesterday evening as an experiment. On a gentle heat it took nearly an hour to get a delicious base for my curry gravy.
My Weekend Top Tip
So, what can you do? Well, this weekend’s top tip is to place your sliced onions in a bowl with a little cold water. Cover with cling film and cook in the microwave stirring every couple of minutes. In a matter of a few minutes, you will have beautifully soft onions. If you want to colour them just fry them for a few minutes in some clarified butter.
