Topic: Grated Onion - Big No NO

[parker21]

hi jerry
just had a look on you tube for the demo for this and it is on there. just type in v-slicer and this is the guy who demos it!
regards
gary

[JerryM]

thanks gary brilliant effort.

the u tube video was well worth it - it confirmed alas it's not for me. the opening shot spirallying the cucumber and potato got my back up straight away.

looks good on chips though but we tend to buy the frozen nowadays for ease (ASDA).

it's that end piece under the v slicer bonnet that's the issue for me (the last bit that u can't quite hold onto and cut consistently).

defo going with the par boil.

[JayR]

Hi Jerry,
Not sure if this might help, but Pampered Chef do a chopper....

https://www.pamperedchef.com/ordering/prod_details.tpc?prodId=1702&catId=4&parentCatId=4&outletSubCat=&viewAllOutlet=

Not cheap but it's very effective for finley chopping onions & garlic etc.  It can tend to pulp it if you go overboard with it.

I personally prefer a a nice quality veg knife... but obviously this takes more time.
cheers
Jay

[JerryM]

thanks JayR.

the food chopper is just what i have in my mind as being needed.

i too prefer a knife. it's just that i always end up with some biggish lumps when cutting at the ends. from the v slicer video i realised i could just throw the end pieces away but that does not feel right either.

i'll have base next week to have another go at cooking a few dishes which need "chopped" onion. i'm going to try the par boil 1st. if this fails then  i'm happy to continue to pre fry  until i find the same type of food chopper in the UK. i've used pre frying for a long time and it works for me. i've only recently switched to cooking raw at frying stage as i thought BIR's would not pre fry. now from the above posts i'm not sure.

[JerryM]

i've tried out the par boil method.

there's good and bad.

the good - it worked a treat. the bad  - it ponged (just like making the KD base) - boiling onion is not good at all for the nose or your house.

i added a tsp of spice mix and par boiled for 5 mins. next time intend trying just turmeric - this being what i've used previously when pre frying in oil.

i'd love to know how to stop the onion pong though.

[JerryM]

i tried the par boil again with v.good results. i've adopted this going fwd.

i used turmeric (1 tsp), a little oil (1 tbsp), ~300ml water and 3 off "fine" chopped "5mm" onion.

big surprise - no onion pong. i'm not sure which stopped the pong - i guess the turmeric given the small amount of oil in comparison to water.

[JerryM]

i used turmeric (1 tsp), a little oil (1 tbsp), ~300ml water and 3 off "fine" chopped "5mm" onion.

just a little caution on this. i made pre cooked onion again yesterday. the onions turned out very yellow - too yellow. this yellow then made the cooked curry dishes Orange instead of their normal colour.

i must have put more than 1 tsp of turmeric or used too little water (i did not measure). i would reduce the turmeric to say 1/4 tsp going fwd as u only need a hint.

[Graeme]

Hi,

That "V" thing will take your fingers off :-(

No way.

[JerryM]

thanks Graeme for the warning. i've now completely abandoned the idea of getting any form of chopper/slicer. the pre cook/par boil is working fine for me and needs no further improvement.

[JerryM]

update,

i now find i don't need to pre cook/par boil onion. i put this down to using more oil and having a thinner base. the raw onion now cooks fine within 5 min dish cooking time.

the pre cook/par boil does work fine and if u're struggling with getting the fine chopped onion (~5mm) to cook through it is a good way of sorting.