Topic: Frying onions

[Ader1]

I watched this Indian....well Bangali in actual fact, chef frying some onions for this dish.  The oil was pretty damned hot.  In fact, he semed to heat up the pan for ages before adding the oil.  Then in went the thinly sliced onions.  He said that the needed to melt and later on added some water a couple of times.  I've been trying to do this with varying degrees of success and I'm beginning to think that my saucepen isn't the right type.  Maybe not heavy enough or made from the right material.  Do you gusy have any advice on which type of saucepan to use for frying.  Doesn't need to be too big as it's not for a large amount of bse gravy.  Thanks.

[london]

Without seeing the video is hard to tell but most BIR places use aluminum frying pans which are a great conductor of heat. What colour is the pan that he uses.

[Ader1]

Thanks.....but I've seen them use aluminium pans but for making BIR dishes.  They don't need to melt onions as they're in a way already melted in the base gravy.  I'm talking about making certain Indiand dishes from scratch.

[George]

The oil was pretty damned hot.  In fact, he seemed to heat up the pan for ages before adding the oil... added some water a couple of times.

Do be careful. I thought that adding water to very hot oil is likely to cause a large enough fireball to destroy your kitchen and entire dwelling, unless you can step in fast with a carbon dioxide fire extinguisher. Perhaps the oil needs to be already on fire as seen in the following video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDKD9LUER7A

[Gav Iscon]

The CO2 would be another bad way to tackle a chip pan fire as it would disperse the burning oil all over. Wet tea towels or a fire blanket would be the best option. Remove the source off heat, ie turn off gas or electric. The newer way is to turn off the heat source and get out and call the fire brigade. Personally I'd go for the wet tea towel option. Even better get a fryer.

Ader1, I would just cook them for ages with a lid on until they just about dissolve. Off the top of my head is the beginning of Happy Chris's staff curry what your after?

http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,11933.msg95153.html#msg95153

[Madrasandy]

Where's Adey pain when you need his experience   ;D

[chewytikka]

Ader1
The clue might be to use a similar pan, to the pan

[Ader1]

Ader1
The clue might be to use a similar pan, to the pan

[Gav Iscon]

Ader1
The clue might be to use a similar pan, to the pan

[Ader1]

Thais don't as far as I know 'melt' onions and neither do the Chinese.  I've done courses in both but am in no way an expert.   I just thought that maybe somebody might have a suggestion.  The Bangladeshi who I watched cooking and melting the onions did so on a pretty battered saucepan.  But it's heavier than what I've been using.   Tonight I used a heavier saucepan I got down from the attic and it seems to not burn the onions and brown them well.  Of course, this is not a scientific conclusion as I've only done this once.  Might it have been the saucepan or my technique tonight?  No worries. 

PS  I've watched Cris's video and it's great but not quite like the one I watched being made.  His is also much drier....I mean the end product.   Does he mention the type of saucepan?