The Secret to lovely Homemade curries...

[bluebells1]

The onions! The bloomin Indian grown onions!! I just tried making a kidney bean curry with the pink, very different onion and the taste is just so very different. Am I the only one that didn't know this? Have I been living under a rock?

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So at the local Indian shop I was talking to the shopkeeper and she tells me that they use 'Indian Onions' to make curries and the white/red ones that we buy at the shops are used mainly for salads. I aks her to show me what they look like and they are these beautiful pink small (compared to our usual ones) onions. They taste stronger, smell more oniony and hold their shape well for stir fries and melts when you saute longer. This is what they look like.

I only bought 3 onions, have to go back next week for a huge bag of them!

My secret is to blitz the onions/ chilli/ peppers into a paste whole raw, it makes such a big difference to the sauce overall.

We lived next door to a guy who owned an Indian takeaway and he offered to show us how to make two curries. Poor DH was designated Onion Slicer, and he cut about a dozen onions for two curries. It really made the difference.

DM (from a Caribbean country) makes the best curries- she sautes onion and garlic on a low heat, for about 15 mins. Then adds the spices (powder) and a touch of water, and cooks those for about 5-7 mins. I've no patience for this, and it does show when you taste mine compared to hers! Still a lovely curry though!

yep blitz the onions that’s the secret

Yup I blitz for certain curries and then chop for curried like kadhai/jalfrezi.

The type of onion itself was the revelation.

I sometimes use shallots, I wonder if the pinkness makes them similar. We have an Indian supermarket just up the road so I'm going to have a look for the onions you mentioned OP.

I will be checking these magical onions out! Anything for a fantastic curry !

You need to sort of squeeze them out after slicing as fine as you can and then frazzle in hot oil for biryani - gives you that brown but not bitter onion pieces that are as fine as little lengths of cotton to look at.

Oh thanks for the tip op. I hope I can buy some locally. Never knew about them. My curries are just so, so.

what are they called? are they found anywhere except indian supermarkets?

Oh, not Pataks then?

Those that blitz onions - any chance of a recipe please?

Oh, will look out for those onions, they sound delicious.

Can someone tell me the secret to the chicken not getting chewy and over-cooked? My curries with chicken nearly always ends up that way & not tender like it should be.