Grated Onion - Big No NO

[JerryM]

i switched this week from mainly cooking curry sauce to cooking dishes with the aim of improving recipe.

i've always had difficulty cooking the onion/pepper (they don't cook out enough ie too hard in the cooking time ~5 mins). i'd previously come to the conclusion that i'm better pre frying which allows it to be added as the base goes in.

however i don't believe BIR's would do this down to effort. trouble is despite using Bobby B's onion cutting technique (which helps greatly) i still can't to be honest chop the onion fine enough or consistently enough (this being the greater of the 2). i'm on the look out for a mechanical chopper but not willing to pay silly money or for something cheap and no good.

this week i had the brainy idea of grating the onion - big mistake. thanks to the advice of a verty good friend i now put this down to the reason i had a very bad night of cooking last monday when i got loads of black "burnt" debris in the pan. this was a real blow as i now pride myself in mastering the cooking to avoid this at all cost.

in summary grated onion works in the right circumstances but is a big NO NO for curry dish cooking.

all thoughts going fwd appreciated.

[parker21]

hi jerry try the original V-slicer. it is a little expensive but oyu get all the gadgets with it and compared to the imitations that you used to be able to get in woolies. i know wilkinsons do one for 5pounds. alternatively use your multichef to finely cut the onion and pepper. when you say that restaurants would not pre fry the onion and peppers i would disagree remember that the scale they are cooking on anything they can prepare in advance they do, use your fryer or do them in the pan you are cooking with shallow frying until coloured at the edges.
some birs boil the above in water and turmeric and salt for 30 mins until soft.

btw the guy who demonstrates the v-slicer goes to all the county shows and has been on ideal shopping channel doing these in a deal with them says it it is the fastest chipper in the world, sad as it may sound i could watch him do the demos for hours and have done as it used to be in a loop on 1 of the tv channels after normal programming has finished ;D
regards
gary

[JerryM]

gary,

many thanks - i will have a look in wilkinson for the V Slicer.

on restaurants pre frying onion/pepper - this would suit me if they do as so far i get the best result by Pre frying. given what u say i think i may be better forgeting about the slicer and just continuing the pre frying.

ps i did check out wilkinson for the small deep fryer but alas no stock.

[parker21]

hi jerry will see if my local wilkinson have any in stock and may be able to send 1 to you. will let you know. forgot to say the original v-slicer costs about 20gbp but you do get all the gadgets aswell.
regards
gary

[Onion B]

Hi JerryM,
I also have a V slicer, couldn't live without it! Try ' boerner-germany.de' I bought mine from the Ideal Home exhibition 2 years ago. I think i've  attached a pic

[JerryM]

many thanks for the pic OnionB.

given it's called "V slicer" does it actually chop or what is the smallest size of onion piece produced - i'm looking for around 3 to 5 mm square ie not slices.

[JerryM]

some birs boil the above in water and turmeric and salt for 30 mins until soft.

i've been thinking about what to do going fwd and think i will give this a try.

the size of the "chunk" i get by cutting manually with a knife isn't a problem visually in the finished dish. it's the range on the size as some parts end up difficult to chop finely. as a consequence i get inconsistency during the dish cooking - some "chunks" don't cook through enough before the dish is ready.

i use the above par boil method for pre cooked chicken and that works well. i only cook the chicken for 5 mins and then leave it to cool in the liquid. i'll give the onions the same time as a 1st go (i want to keep texture).

if this does not look like working then i'm going to go back to pre frying as this works well but is just a bit more hassle up front of cooking the dishes. i find this small amount of pre frying just like the ashoka garlic/ginger paste seems to take the hit and miss out during the final dish cooking.

[Onion B]

Hi JerryM,

As you see in the photo it comes with chopping attachments. It chops approx 5mm chunks, this is the one I use, it also does approx 2mm (a bit too thin).
Also good for salads

Onion B     

[JerryM]

thanks Onion B. looks impressive.

i will give the par boil a try and keep a look out locally (online seems around ?10 + del). have been looking for the nicer dicer at a good price for a while but no luck yet.

[parker21]

hi jerry this will do the dicing for you as well, especially if the original V-slicer.
regards
gary