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for a hotter version increase the amount you use.
Ingredients
2
2
pounds (900 g) yellow onion, peeled, cut in halves, thinly sliced
tablespoons sesame oil
1
Thai or ½ serrano chili, sliced thin, including seeds and ribs
1
tablespoon sugar
½
¼
1
teaspoon curry powder
red bell pepper, cut into julienne strips
teaspoon soy sauce
Procedure
. Sauté onion and chili in sesame oil in a large, heavy sauté pan over medium heat stirring
often, until soft and limp, 15 to 20 minutes.
. Raise the heat to medium-high, add sugar, curry powder and bell pepper, cook with
continuous stirring while onion and sugar caramelize to a light brown color, 3 to 5 minutes.
. Add soy sauce and cook for another minute to evaporate most of the liquid.
1
2
3
Serves 4.
Chopping onion
Next to dish washing, chopping onions has always been the least favorite of kitchen chores.
A food processor is a great help for this job, but when you only need a small amount, it is easier to
do it by hand. Cookbook authors are generous with numerous suggestions for tearless onion
chopping. Some of them are too much trouble, others don't work.. One that does work chills or
briefly freezes the onion before chopping. The enzyme action that produces the irritating gas is slow
in its action in a cold onion, but you have to plan ahead to place the onion in the freezer. And for
how long to freeze is a problem, too. Leave it in too long and you need a chopping axe. Chopping
under running water is another method touted by cookbooks. Water dissolves and washes away the
irritating chemical. But I could never figure out how to chop under running water. Do you put a
chopping board in the sink? Or take the onion into the shower with you?
I've found two good onion-chopping methods, both guaranteed tearless. The first is to take
your chopping board, knife and onion outside. Even if there is no breeze, the gases disperse before
they can really irritate your eyes. The second method is even better, especially when it is cold
outside. Don a pair of well-fitting swim or ski goggles. I always have a pair in the kitchen reserved
for onion chopping.
It is a good idea to keep some dehydrated onion flakes on your kitchen shelf for two reasons.
You can use them in cooking if you run out of whole onions and they may actually be better than
store-bought onions in late winter when the grocery store onion is soft and somewhat passed its
maximum storage time. And often its cost rivals papayas from Central America. If you rehydrate
onion flakes for 15 to 20 minutes, you can even sauté them. If you are using them in a soup stock,
toss them in dry. You need one-quarter of the volume of fresh onion from dehydrated flakes. Onion
powder is easy to make from the dry flakes, too, in a mortar. You can readily buy dehydrated onion
flakes in health food stores, even in large supermarkets.
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