Fried Onion Paste

I made this batch of Fried Onion Paste because caramelized onions are the bomb. It is a key ingredient in many curries and since I'm on an Indian kick it shows up in a few recipes I want to make. You can probably buy this at the Indian grocer, but the thought of slowly cooking onions until they was just too much. I LOVE the smell while it's cooking.

This recipe turned out just fine for me, but it didn't go exactly as written. Maybe I didn't have the burner turned up high enough, but it took closer to an hour for my onions to caramelize than the suggested 25 to 30 minutes. Also, it yielded only about a cup and a half instead of 3 cups. 2 pounds of onions really aren't all that much so next time I'll double the batch.

Fried Onion Paste pyaaz ka lep Makes 3 cups 1/4 cup canola oil 2 pounds red onions, cut in half lengthwise and thinly sliced Preheat a wok or a large, deep frying pan over medium heat. Pour in the oil and swish it around gently to coat the bottom of the pan. the oil will immediately get hot and appear to shimmer. Add the onions and cook them, stirring occasionally, until they are caramel-brown with a deep purple hue, 25 to 30 minutes. Initially they will stew in the oil, but once they start to cook down in volume, you will need to stir them more often as they start to stick to the bottom. Transfer the onions to a place to cool. Pour 1 cup water into a blender jar. Add the caramelized onions and puree, scraping the inside of the jar as needed, to make a smooth, reddish-brown paste. (If you wont' be using all of the onion paste, divide it into smaller batches and freeze them for up to 2 months. Leftover onion paste, stored in a tightly sealed container, will keep in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.)