Topic: Blanching Onions

[johnboy]

I have read recently that onions should be blanched in boiling water for several minutes befor using them to make a curry. Seemingly this removes the sharp acidity smell and taste.

Anyone any comments on this, is it necessary?

[Yousef]

Hi Johnboy,

Welcome to the fourm,

I have never used this method before for the base sauce, most of the Curry Base Sauce recipes on the site involve long periods of boiling the onions which also will removes the acidity etc etc

If you are using onions directly in your final curry, sometimes i just fry them off first in a small bit of base sauce, put them to one side and then add in to the curry during the final cooking, when required.

Anyway good luck and let us know how you get on....

Stew

[DARTHPHALL]

If i add Onions to a final dish i also give them a quick fry until slightly Golden.

[George]

most of the Curry Base Sauce recipes on the site involve long periods of boiling the onions which also will removes the acidity etc etc

I may be wrong, but I would not expect acidity to disappear, no matter how long you boil the onions for in a base sauce, unless you throw away the water, as in simple blanching.  That's the logic behind adding a bit of bicarbonate of soda, as it chemically neutralises the acid.

Regards
George

[Ashes]

This is a tricky one.. there is a raw sharp taste associated with onions.

The onions need some cooking before being pulped down with a whizz machine otherwise there is an unpleasant after taste of raw onion.

As for reducing acidity, we have several scientists here that maybe could light some shed, er shed some light on that.

I just realised after Georges post, the bicarbonate will reduce or neutralise the acidity but so would potato, which is also an ingredient in IfindforUs base sauce recipe.

Adding bicarb also gives a slightly creamy and fluffy texture to a curry which is identical to some restaurants we have here in Stockholm. I always thought this was the chefs skill in making curries before i realised it was a chefs secret.

Here is some onion information   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onion

Regards Ashes

[johnboy]

Thanks guys, that's interesting I'll see how I get on.

[Mark J]

I have blanched onions before cooking in a base many moons ago though, seemed to work ok.