Elegant, mellow, and melt-in-the-mouth – this is how you honour an onion! Of course there are lots of other great ways to cook onions, and different methods suit different dishes best… but, caramelised onions are beautifully versatile, and will transform the base of any soup, stew, or pasta dish whose flavour combination responds well to a touch of elegance 😉

I’ve even been known to sprinkle a generous serve of these over a pizza (topped with pumpkin and basil, mmmmm!!), or use them to liven up a salad.

Here’s the utterly foolproof method for caramelising onions to perfection…

Ingredients (enough to use in one meal for 2-4 people):

• Splash of olive oil
• 1 large brown onion (you can use any kind of onions really)
• half a teaspoon of salt
• 1 clove of garlic – minced to a paste
• 1 tablespoon of sugar – I use rapadura of palm sugar for the deep, caramel flavour and dark colour
• 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar

If you want to make more, just up the quantities while keeping the proportions the same 🙂

Directions:

1. Finely slice your onion, and sautee it in a small (preferably) non-stick frying pan or saucepan on a high heat with the olive oil until it turns translucent
2. Turn the heat on your onions down to medium and add the salt – sautee until slightly browned
3. Mince your garlic, and stir it into your onions
   • Amateur tip: see here for how to mince your garlic to a fine paste – it’s so simple, you’ll never go back to chunky chopped garlic!
4. Add the sugar to your onions, stir well, and turn heat down to low – sautee until a deep brown colour
5. Pour in the balsamic vinegar, and continue to sautee on the lowest heat possible for another 5 minutes, and you’re done!