Topic: A must in an indian curry

[JerryM]

SNS,

much appreciate your thoughts.

i've ditched the 3 hr boil for the mo.

i'm going to repeat your experiment to make sure my onions are ok. then i'm going to expand (to use my 4 hobs) to include say :

a) SNS spec
b) SNS spec + salt
c) boil in oil
d) SNS spec + salt + cardamom seed

will report back.

[Bobby Bhuna]

having looked at the "onion" link i am going to go for the "Slow-cook: sweet, mild, limp" approach.

Have a look at my post in SnS simple Madras recipe thread, where I try the recipe. Cooking the onions slowly at the curry stage made the curry very sweet.

[JerryM]

results are in.

i found this onion cooking "basics" very good in terms of learning and would say a very good lead-in to BIR cooking.

i made 5 onion batches to SNS's spec (200gm peeled in 400ml water but boiled for 1 hr):

a) small onions (typ dia 1")
b) large onions (typ dia 3")
c) large onions boiled in 300 ml sunflower oil
d) large onions + 1 tps salt
e) large onions + 3 off cardamom

observations:

1) the onion liquid tastes very sweet (best in the large onions)
2) the onion itself when cooked just in water does not taste sweet
3) both the salt & the cardamom increased the perception of sweetness in the onion itself
4) the onions cooked in oil tasted the sweetest
5) 290ml of oil was reclaimed (so not much absorbed)


conclusions:
1) i loose the sweetness when the cooked onions & cooked water are blended
2) in future when making bases i will use more salt and add cardamom
3) the boiled onion even with salt & cardamom does not alone give the sweetness I crave
4) the fried onion may give the sweetness I crave (I would need to try it in a base)

I hope I find the jaggery in my local Asian supermarket as boiling onions in oil does not gel well with me in terms of how I perceived BIR?s make bases.

[JerryM]

Bobby,

Have a look at my post in SnS simple Madras recipe thread

it's got me now not knowing which recipe to try 1st - i've got stews's jalfrezi in the heart but SNS's madras in the brain.

going to have to try both. ;D ;D ;D

link http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,2603.0.html

[JerryM]

forgot the pics of the onions

from top left clockwise: reclaimed oil, with salt, with cardamom, large onions, small onions, boiled in oil

[SnS]

Nice experiment Jerry but you forgot to mention what variety of onions you used ... or were they all different?

SnS

[JerryM]

SNS,

both small (class 2) & large (class 1) bought from ASDA - english cooking onions

NB

i've got 1 large onion left - will boil it all evening (say 3 to 5 hrs) until either the onion flesh is sweet or i'm sure it's not going to sweeten any further.

[Bobby Bhuna]

forgot the pics of the onions

from top left clockwise: reclaimed oil, with salt, with cardamom, large onions, small onions, boiled in oil

Hahaha, awesome. Such dedication to the cause. Great experiment Jerry! ;D

[Curry King]

Hahaha, awesome. Such dedication to the cause. Great experiment Jerry! ;D

Seconded, it's these sort of experiments that make this forum so great, thanks for sharing 

[Unclebuck]

I'll third that    where do you find all the time? fantastic reporting and great effort!